Alize Cornet vs Clara Tauson: Young Clara still finding her feet

The US Open is nearing and before that, we will see a lot of action unpack as the Tennis in the Land still is in its initial stages. While the top stars are missing from the scene, the WTA scene makes it so that even the lower-ranked players can also end up upsetting the top ones and go on to win a tournament as happened during the 2021 US Open when Emma Raducanu won it all. Like Raducanu, Clara is also a young player, still in her teens and she will meet Alize Cornet here who has a more than decade's worth of experience.

Alize comes into the game after defeating Dayana Yastremska, winning 6-2, 6-1 in a game where both her first and second serve winning percentage exceeded 69%. She extracted an impressive 32-12 receiving points which are on par with what you can expect from the French star. Cornet lost early in Cincinnati in a rather below-par showing versus Sloane Stephens, her campaign was slashed in the Second Round during the Candian Open and apart from Wimbledon, wins haven’t been easy to come by.

While Cornet has won 6 WTA titles, she is yet to make it past the Quarter-Finals of a Grand Slam tournament which she did during this year’s Australian Open earlier. Cornet’s play is of a counterpuncher and she likes to set her game up behind the baseline, using a lot of topspin on her shot, rather than hitting it flat. At age 32, Alize’s window to make a deep run is closing but perhaps, this experience can enable that.

Clara will enter with a huge boost as she defeated Harmony Tan 6-3, 6-1 in the first round. In that game, she did commit a ton of double faults but end up sneaking in a 31-17 receiving points advantage, constantly breaking Harmony’s serve throughout the match. Tauson entered as a Qualifiers in a much top-heavy Cincinnati Masters where she lost to Ajla Tomljanovic in the initial Qualifying Round.

She is just 19 but has made a deep impression thus far, although the road is full of toil for the Danish tennis sensation. She reached the rank of 33 during February this year but has sobered down to around 50s as of now. She reached the third round of the Australian Open this year which earned her hefty plaudits. Tauson is what can be termed as a power baseliner who has a developing forehand-backhand game while her speed has shown a lot of promise.

This is the first time Alize and Clara will meet.

The WTA scene is difficult to parse through, considering that this is a territory where the lower-ranked players are upsetting elite stars all the time but in terms of ranking, both Alize and Clara are mid-tier. Clara’s enthusiasm will face the experienced resistance of Alize who remains a top athlete even at her age. I’d back Cornet’s experience but you know how WTA at this point!