American wildcard Louisa Chirico was looking to continue her Citi Open run against Frenchwoman Alize Cornet. Cornet was seeded fifth and looking to advance to the third round comfortably, but Chirico was not going to back down after her impressive first ever tour level victory over Britain number one Heather Watson.
The fifth-seeded Frenchwoman defeated qualifier An-Sophie Mestach to get to this matchup. However, the American willed herself to a tight three set victory, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(4), to advance to the quarterfinals and earn her second tour-level win.
Tight first set goes to Chirico
This was their first ever matchup so both women used the first few games to get a feel for how they would play. Cornet is a streaky player so the the American teenager had to be sure she was completely focused to make sure she captured any opportunities where Cornet faltered.
The match started off with five consecutive holds before Cornet struck first blood on the sixth game. However, the 19-year-old would get it right back and held to level the score. Soon after that, the teen found herself forced to save three break points, and she delivered. She used her powerful backhand in combination with some Cornet errors to hold. In the eleventh game, Chirico did the damage to capture that break to put her ahead. She came up with the goods on her serve, at times which reached 110 MPH plus, as she sealed the near hour-long first set 7-5.
Cornet battles from a break down to take the second set
Once again to open the second set, a reel of consecutive holds started it off. The New Jersey native found herself with multiple break opportunities in the fifth game. A poorly played drop shot on deuce gave the American the opening after she put a forehand away to get a fourth break chance. However, a backhand passing shot from Cornet saved it yet again. The fifth time was the charm for Chirico as the fifth seeded sent a ball long to give her a 3-2 lead.
The New York born Chirico had to work extremely hard in the previous game to earn that break as it was a 13 point game. Some were worried of signs of a letdown. She nearly found herself in that position forced to save a couple of break points. Once again she delivered when she needed to showing no signs of faltering under pressure to consolidate the break for a 4-2 lead.
Cornet nearly fell a double break down when she was pushed to deuce in the seventh game, but her persistence paid off in the following game to get the break back. She would consolidate that break with a love hold to force the American to serve to stay in the set. Chirico could not hold though as it was headed to a third set with the Frenchwoman taking the second set 6-4 in another near hour-long set.
Chirico overcomes late third set disappointment to take match in tiebreaker
The Jersey native did not let her second set disappointment hinder her to start the third as she broke Cornet immediately on her first attempt. Despite that, she fell to a 0-40 hole in her opening service game of the decider and conceded the break back immediately after saving two of the three chances. A third consecutive break was on the cards when Chirico had three break chances at 0-40 up. She just needed a second attempt to convert but could she hold to exert the pressure on Cornet?
She answered that question with flying colors by holding to go up 3-1. A nine point sixth game saw the momentum swing in favor of Cornet once again. She fended off two game points from the teen to level it at three-all. Just like she has been throughout the match, the teen was resilient after a poor game to get the break right back to lead 4-3.
The pressure was clearly mounting on her when serving for the match up 5-4 in the third after Cornet’s love hold. It only took Cornet one shot to once again level this match. This was turning out to be match of the day with these two battling out in the blistering sun on Grandstand 1 in Rock Creek Park. Another battle to deuce was won by Cornet and now instead of serving for the match, Chirico was forced to serve to stay in the match. She held comfortably to force a tiebreaker.
It didn’t take Chirico too long to clinch the match in the breaker. At 3-all, she won four of the next five points to seal the match, another upset, and a spot in the quarterfinals. The vital stat of the match was Chirico's dominance on second serve return points. She won 65 percent of those points throughout the match while Cornet won just under 50 percent of those points. This highlights the American's willingness to attack the second serve and get on the offensive from the get-go. That is something she will continue to do as she grows as a player.
With the win, she’ll face the winner of Sloane Stephens and Svetlana Kuznetsova for a spot in the semifinals. This is looking like the beginning of something big for the American teen.