Alize Allayed Easily

Today in Budapest, second-seeded Alize Cornet, the tournament's defending champion, was unceremoniously drop-kicked out of the second round by Shahar Peer, by the score of 6-2, 6-0. Hardly a shocker, since I expressed surprise at her winning her first round match, but this loss still represents faceplant from grace, to say the least.

Cornet, who trailed 5-0 in the first set, has been in utter free fall of late. Going back to the Australian Open quarterfinal this year in which she blew match point vs. Dinara Safina, Cornet has been an astonishingly terrible 4-16 against players in the top 100. It's especially terrible considering Cornet was #11 in the world earlier this year.

Cornet, after her less than stunning first round upset at Wimbledon, chalked the loss up to breathing problems. Maybe those microscoping nostrils are finally catching up to her? In all seriousness, it would seem as though having a nose not fit for heavy breathing could be a large cause of her difficulties. Though that theory doesn't explain how those same-sized nostrils took her within one spot of the top ten several months ago.

Cornet is facing big points coming off on the summer hard court swing, but she isn't defending any major points in the post US Open indoor swing. Regardless of what happened last year, she could easily find herself unseeded at the Australian Open if she doesn't get herself together fast.

Tuesday's Slices--7/7/09

Four things that happened today in the world of tennis that you may have missed:

1. Still struggling to recover from a shoulder injury that had him out for well over a year, American Taylor Dent took a nice step toward regaining his old form by securing a relatively routine 6-2, 6-1 win over Brazilian Marcos Daniel in Newport. The grass at Newport should help Dent's serve-and-volley game immensely, hopefully giving him the springboard he needs to get back into the top 200. The previous time Dent won a match in the main draw of an ATP tournament was way back in April. His opponent in that match? Marcos Daniel. When you got 'em, you got 'em.
2. The top two ranked Italians on the WTA Tour, Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone, met today in the first round of the hard court tournament in Bastad, Sweden. The #3 seed Pennetta beat recent Wimbledon quarterfinalist Schiavone 6-2, 7-5. It's an unfortunate draw for both in an otherwise soft first round. I cannot fathom why Pennetta came to Bastad this week in the first place, when there was a perfectly good obscure clay court tournament in Budapest to be played. No one loves obscure clay court tournaments the way Flavia Pennetta does.
   
3. There is something strange going on with the seeds in Budapest. Both Sara Errani (#7) and Lucie Safarova (#8) were served a bagel by their qualifier opponents. Even stranger, Alize Cornet (#2), who can only beat the traffic of late, managed to win her match over Galina Voskoboeva. I haven't seen photos, but I'm guessing Voskoboeva was playing without the use of one or more of her legs.
   
4. Small weeks for the main tours usually mean big weeks for the challenger circuits, and this week is no exception. The men haveThe women are in a $100k in Biarritz and a $75k in Zagreb, with some pretty nice fields at each (headlined by Lucie Hradecka and Rossanna De Los Rios, respectively). Cult fan favorite Zuzana Ondraskova picked up a nice 6-2, 6-0 win in Zagreb over the third-ranked Serb, Ana Jovanovic. In Serbian women's tennis, Jovanovic is only behind Jelena Jankovic (#6) and Ana Ivanovic (#11). Jovanovic is #229. That's quite the drop-off.