Alize Cornet probably should not have played her Internazionali BNL d'Italia second round match against Kateryna Bondarenko today. Not to take anything away from the talented Bondarenko, but 13th seed Cornet has a stomach virus.
The other two upsets were of the 2nd seed, Serena Williams, and Marion Bartoli, the 11th seed. Bartoli lost to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who finished off Amelie Mauresmo in the first round.
Since I have Cornet on my mind, and since a blog reader and I have been discussing her today, now is a good time to mention--as we have all noticed--that she is not having a very good season. I saw Cornet play in Charleston last year and was quite impressed by her. It appears that perhaps she has reached a saturation point in exploiting her natural talent, and now will have to learn harder lessons.
She obviously has a low frustration tolerance, and that quality is not going to make her a champion. I can still hear Dinara Safina say of her, "That girl wasn't ready to beat me," when Thrill Ride came from behind yet again to defeat Cornet in the Australian Open round of 16. I think Safina summed it up pretty well.
Cornet is now practically a punching bag in Fed Cup matches, which must only hurt her confidence ever more. She needs to find a way to tame her emotions so that they do not get the better of her.
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