Alizé Cornet brought a second point to France in qualifying for the final phase of the Billie Jean King Cup against Great Britain, beating Harriet Dart 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7-3) , in Coventry (central England).
A little earlier, Caroline Garcia, 5th player in the world, had to tear herself away to get rid of Katie Boulter (154th) in three sets and 3h26 of play 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/4) , 7-6 (7/2).
In both matches, all sets went to the tiebreaker, a sign of the British’s ability to sublimate in front of their home crowd, even without their best player, Emma Raducanu (68th).
“I’m so relieved it’s been a big fight with Harriet. We gave our maximum, it was very hard physically and I’m happy to finish in two sets. A third would have been very hard for both of them,” commented the Frenchwoman on the court after the match.
The two sets were very different, the first being punctuated by six breaks, while there were none in the second.
In the tiebreak of the first set, Cornet saved a set point at 5-6, before winning 8-6, while in the second, she quickly broke away at 5-1 to conclude in 2h27 .
France only needs one victory to qualify for the finals, while Saturday two singles will be played before a possible decisive double.