Alizé Cornet stuns Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon to end 37-game win streak

All good things come to an end eventually. Iga Swiatek knew it, and when she saw the name of Alizé Cornet alongside her in the third round here, the Pole probably knew her time was up. After 37 straight wins and six straight titles, including a second French Open title, the world No 1 experienced defeat, beaten 6-4, 6-2 by Cornet.

Eight years after she beat Serena Williams, who was also then the world No 1, on the same No 1 Court, Cornet outplayed and out-thought Swiatek, something no one else had managed to do since Dubai. Tenacious, aggressive and daring, she was too good for Swiatek in every department and reached the fourth round of Wimbledon for the second time in her career, at the grand old age of 32.

“I have no words right now,” she said. “It reminds me of the time I beat Serena on the same court eight years ago exactly. This court is a lucky charm for me. I am a huge fan of Iga, she’s so talented and an amazing player and nice ambassador for women’s tennis, so I’m very flattered I beat her today.

“This kind of match is what I live for, what I’m practising for. It drives me and I knew I could do it,” she said. “I had this belief even with her wins, I thought if there is a moment you can beat her, it’s now, on grass so I was just believing very hard and I have the best team by my side and the best crowd. I guess I like the upsets, it’s a really nice feeling right now and I need to process because I still feel like I’m playing I’m not completely realising what I’ve done.”

Earlier this year, Cornet reached the quarter-finals of a slam for the first time, at the Australian Open, but then admitted that she was not sure how much longer she would go on, even suggesting that she might retire at the end of this year. This