When Alize Cornet shattered Iga Swiatek’s 37-match unbeaten streak in the third round here last year, the Pole made no attempt to disguise her grass court bewilderment, saying simply: “I didn’t know what to do.”

But that victory was on No.1 Court, Cornet’s SW19 locale of choice for massive upsets ever since she similarly stunned Serena Williams there in 2014, also in the third round.

At Wimbledon 2023, she was facing Elena Rybakina on Centre Court one round earlier, and for the defending champion the biggest stage made for more profitable territory as she moved through 6-2, 7-6(2).

Yet this was a match which unfolded along peculiar lines. In the first set the Kazakh was all silky confidence and smooth execution. Having monopolised her previous two contests against Cornet in straight sets, a repeat was writ large. 

Unexpectedly, in the second chapter Rybakina leaked ever more errors as Cornet found more resistance. At 5-5, with the champion on serve, the game had already comprised 11 deuces and five break points saved when Cornet was wrong-footed on the baseline and badly jarred her right hip and knee.

Patched up during a medical timeout, she limped into the tie-break before Rybakina finally secured a less than resounding victory.

“I started the match with good energy but it became tougher in the second,” she acknowledged. “I wasn’t pushing as good with the legs. That was a tricky long game [at 5-5]. So a tough match but I’m happy to win in two sets and reach another round.”

A match barely merits the description for Cornet if she doesn’t take to the court with some bandage or other. This time she began with her right thigh heavily strapped, and by the time the two players shared a handshake the Frenchwoman’s leg was entombed in bandages.

At the start of the action Cornet was frequently reduced to the role of spectator as winners flew by her, or landed way beyond her reach up the court while she was pinned to the baseline. Rybakina was banking too many love holds. Cornet delivered 83 per cent of her first set serves on target, and still had nothing to show for it.

But the second set spun out so long that the habitually unreadable Rybakina began to show (by her standards) signs of frustration, which only paved the way to further error – 40 of them, by the time the match was done. Was this evidence that the virus which ruined Rybakina’s Roland-Garros challenge and disrupted her pre-Wimbledon preparation is still lingering?

By definition a defending champion cannot move through to the final under the radar. The third round will be a significant test as Rybakina takes on the British wild card Katie Boulter, and the crowd with her. 

“Of course, I understand that the crowd won’t be on my side,” said the No.3 seed. “But I hope it’s a good match and I’m looking forward to it.”

New this year:

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