Of all the tests that potential champions here need to pass, fending off a fighting Alizé Cornet is right up there with the hardest of the lot. Serena Williams could not manage it in 2014, Iga Swiatek could not cope with her 12 months ago and had it not been for a nasty fall late in the second set by the Frenchwoman on Thursday, Elena Rybakina might have joined them on the Cornet victim list.
As it was, the defending champion survived, her 6-2, 7-6 (2) victory sending her into the third round, where Britain’s Katie Boulter awaits. On the evidence of the way Rybakina played in the first set, and how she kept her nerve as the pressure built and amid all the drama late in the second, the 24-year-old will take some stopping again this year.
