Alizé Cornet

Alizé Cornet ([alize kɔʁnɛ]; born 22 January 1990) is a French professional tennis player.

Cornet has won six singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as three singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 16 February 2009, she reached her highest WTA singles ranking of world No. 11.

In 2014, Cornet became known for defeating world No. 1 Serena Williams on three occasions. At the Dubai Tennis Championships, she recorded a straight-set win over Williams in the semifinals, which resulted in Cornet's reaching her biggest singles final in almost six years. In July, at the Wimbledon Championships, she came back from a set down to upset Williams in the third round, handing the American her earliest exit at the tournament since 2005.

Cornet also has an impressive junior's record, reaching a career-high combined junior ranking of world No. 8 on 11 June 2007. She also won her sole Grand Slam junior singles title at the 2007 French Open.

Career

2005–2007

She made her Grand Slam singles debut at the 2005 French Open after receiving a singles main-draw wild card. Coming into that tournament ranked only 645th in the world in the WTA singles rankings, she upset 71st-ranked Alina Jidkova in the first round before losing to number 3 seed Amélie Mauresmo in the second round. At the 2006 French Open, she beat Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in the first round before losing to Tathiana Garbin in the second round. She could not repeat this performance at the 2007 French Open, where she lost in the first round to no. 26 seed Venus Williams. Cornet made her Wimbledon singles debut in 2007. At that tournament, she was defeated in the final qualifying round by Olga Govortsova, but made it to the main draw as a lucky loser when Li Na withdrew. Cornet defeated Maria Kirilenko the first round of the main draw before losing to the experienced no. 26 seed Ai Sugiyama in the second round in three sets. In 2007, Cornet won the $50,000 ITF singles title in Dnipropetrovsk, beating Stefanie Vögele in the final. Cornet made her US Open singles debut in 2007. At that tournament, she won three qualifying matches to reach the main draw. In the main draw, she defeated no. 29 seed Samantha Stosur and unseeded Caroline Wozniacki in the first and second rounds respectively before losing to no. 3 seed Jelena Janković in the third round.

2008: First Premier-5 final, first WTA titles

Cornet reached the second round of the Australian Open where she lost to ninth seed Daniela Hantuchová. Over the following months, Cornet experienced a great level of success on the main tour, particularly on clay, reaching the final in Acapulco and the semifinals in Amelia Island and Charleston (a Tier-I event). Cornet entered the Rome Masters and beat Vera Dushevina in the first round, Francesca Schiavone in the second, world No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third, and then received a walkover from an injured Serena Williams to get into the semifinals. She defeated Anna Chakvetadze, to reach her first Tier-I final, where, however, she lost to Jelena Janković in two sets.

Due to her great run at Rome, she rose to No. 20 in the world and was seeded 19th for her home Grand Slam, the French Open. She defeated Julia Vakulenko in the first round after a stylish display. She then beat clay specialist Gisela Dulko in the second round but lost to 14th seed Agnieszka Radwańska in the third round.

She suffered a poor grass season, making first round exits at Eastbourne (to Amélie Mauresmo) and at Wimbledon, to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

She won her first WTA title at Budapest. Cornet was seeded second and received a bye into the second round. Here she defeated Magdaléna Rybáriková, and followed it up with a straight-sets win over Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the quarterfinals. In the semifinal she defeated Gréta Arn, to make her third final of the year, which she won in two sets against Andreja Klepač. She capped it off by winning the doubles with Janette Husárová at the same tournament.

At Austria, she was seeded second. However, whilst 6–2, 2–1 up, she suffered an injury and retired when trailing 3–2 in the final set.

Cornet then competed at the Beijing Olympics. She was seeded 15th for the singles event. She defeated Nicole Vaidišová in the first round, Peng Shuai, in the second, before falling to no. 4 seed Serena Williams in three sets. She also competed in the women's doubles with Virginie Razzano, where they lost in the first round. In New Haven, she was seeded seventh and again beat Vaidišová in the first round 6–3, 7–6. Cornet followed it up by beating Katarina Srebotnik, and a win over second seeded Daniela Hantuchová in the quarterfinal. However, she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Caroline Wozniacki.

At the US Open, she was seeded 17th in the singles event, where she reached the third round with wins over Camille Pin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the first and second rounds respectively before losing to 4–6, 5–7 to Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the third.

2009: Career-high ranking in singles

Cornet played at the Hopman Cup, and placed third in her group, partnering Gilles Simon. She defeated Hsieh Su-wei of Chinese Taipei and Italian Flavia Pennetta. She then lost to Russia's Dinara Safina, 3–6, 2–6.

Cornet began the season at the Medibank International where she defeated seventh seed Nadia Petrova and Alisa Kleybanova before losing to second seed and eventual finalist Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals 3–6, 4–6. Cornet entered the Australian Open as the 15th seed, easily winning her two matches. In the third round, she dropped a set against Daniela Hantuchová, but advanced regardless. In the fourth round, she held two match points against Safina, but was eventually ousted in three sets. This was her third loss to the Russian already that year.

Cornet then took part in the Open GdF Suez in Paris. Seeded fifth, she defeated Latvian qualifier Anastasija Sevastova in the first round and went on to again defeat Hantuchová in three tight sets in the second round. She was then defeated by the No. 2 seed Jelena Janković in the quarterfinal.

Despite having an impressive first month of the year, Cornet's results began to slide. She lost her two matches to Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta in the Fed Cup, playing for France. Her best result in her next seven tournaments were third round showings in Dubai and Miami. She would lose another two matches in the Fed Cup Play-offs, to Daniela Hantuchová and Dominika Cibulková.

Cornet fell in the early rounds in both the French Open and Wimbledon, continuing a dismal 2009 tennis season.

She was then defeated in the early rounds in Budapest and Palermo. After months of early losses, Cornet had a promising showing in Bad Gastein, advancing to the semifinals before losing to Ioana Raluca Olaru, a match in which Cornet had a 5–4 lead and serve for closing the match in the second set.

2010

Cornet began the season at the ASB Classic in Auckland, losing to Francesca Schiavone in the quarterfinals. She then suffered an early loss to Alona Bondarenko in Hobart. At the Australian Open, she again lost to Schiavone in the opening round. Over the next two months, poor results continued for the Frenchwoman. During this period, her most notable tournament was in Monterrey, Mexico, where she reached the quarterfinals.

During the European clay-court season, Cornet, as a qualifier in the Barcelona Ladies Open in Spain, lost to Timea Bacsinszky in the first round. Cornet reached her first semifinal of the season in Fes, Morocco, losing to Iveta Benešová. She had previously not dropped a set in her previous three matches at the tournament. At the Estoril Open in Portugal, home favourite Michelle Larcher de Brito beat Cornet in the first round. As a qualifier in the Madrid Open she lost again to Schiavone for the fourth time that year. Cornet won her first tournament of the year in doubles at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, playing doubles with Vania King. Cornet would lose to King in singles. At Roland Garros, 29th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated her in the first round 6–4, 6–2. Soon after, Cornet posted her worst result of the year at an ITF event in Marseille losing to 412th-ranked Caroline Garcia in three sets.

At Wimbledon, she lost in the first round to Ioana Raluca Olaru.

She then played on clay in the Suez Grand Prix upsetting Timea Bacsinszky before losing to eventual champion Ágnes Szávay in the quarterfinals 3–6, 1–6. At the Prague Open she fell to Patty Schnyder in the second round. Cornet reach her second semifinal of the year in Bad Gastein with a win over top seed and defending champion Andrea Petkovic 6–2, 7–5, where she lost to Julia Görges. At the US Open, she fell in the first round to 31st seeded Kaia Kanepi in three sets. It was bad year for Alizé as she lost in the opening round at all four Grand Slam.

2011: Career-high ranking in doubles

Cornet's first tournament was the ASB Classic. She defeated Sandra Záhlavová 3–6, 7–5, 6–0 in the first round, before being swept aside by Julia Görges 6–2, 6–4. Next, she headed to Melbourne for the Australian Open. She defeated CoCo Vandeweghe and 26th seed María José Martínez Sánchez in straight sets en route to the third round, where she was defeated by eventual champion Kim Clijsters 7–6, 6–3.

Cornet then headed to Moscow for the quarterfinals of the Fed Cup against Russia. She defeated two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 3–6, 6–3, 6–4 for her biggest win in nearly a year and one of the biggest of her career. However, she lost her second singles match to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 3–6, 6–3, 6–2. In doubles, partnering Julie Coin, she lost to Pavlyuchenkova and Kuznetsova in straight sets.

The Open GdF Suez in Paris was Cornet's next destination. As the home favorite, her fans were greatly upset when she was sent crashing out to Sofia Arvidsson in the first round. Her bad run continued when she lost in the second round of the Monterrey Open to Anastasija Sevastova. But then, her form improved when she headed to Indian Wells for the BNP Paribas Open. In the first round of qualifications she defeated Chinese Han Xinyun, followed by another win over Vesna Dolonts. In the first round of the main draw, she had a decisive two-sets victory over former top ten player Patty Schnyder, and backed it up by winning a tough match against 2010 Wimbledon semifinalist Tsvetana Pironkova in three sets, to advance to the third round, where she was sent crashing out of the tournament by fifth seed Francesca Schiavone in two sets.

At the Sony Ericsson Open she fell in the first round to countrywoman Virginie Razzano. After this she played the Family Circle Cup, but again suffered an early elimination in the first round to Sofia Arvidsson for the second time that year. Seeded eighth at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Cornet was beaten by former world No. 1 Dinara Safina in the second round. Cornet's disastrous run continued when she lost in the first qualifying rounds of the Mutua Madrid Open and the Internazionali BNL d'Italia. She then defeated Sania Mirza in the first round of the Internationaux de Strasbourg, before falling to Nadia Petrova in three sets in the second. At Roland Garros, she defeated Renata Voráčová in the first round but was then crushed by qualifier Nuria Llagostera Vives in the second.

Cornet began her grass-court season in Birmingham, losing in the first round to 16th seed Alla Kudryavtseva. She then lost in the first round of qualifications at the Aegon International to home favorite Anne Keothavong. Following these losses, she headed to London for the Wimbledon Championships, losing in the first round to Kateryna Bondarenko 5–7, 2–6. Cornet then reached the quarterfinals of an ITF event in Italy, losing to Stefanie Vögele.

Shn lost in the first rounds of the Swedish Open and the Gastein Ladies to Caroline Wozniacki and Ksenia Pervak. She then headed to Cincinnati for the Western and Southern Financial Group Women's Open, losing in the first round of qualifying to Sofia Arvidsson.

At the Texas Tennis Open, Cornet was defeated by Julia Görges in the first round. Then she proceeded to the US Open where she saw better results than at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, by getting to the second round where she lost to Roberta Vinci. Cornet then played two ITF events, reaching the second round of one and the quarterfinals of the other. She then qualified for the Kremlin Cup, but lost in the first round to Svetlana Kuznetsova. Her final tournaments of the year were two ITF events in France, of which she reached one first round and one semifinal.

2012: First WTA singles title in four years

Cornet began her 2012 season at the ASB Classic, losing in the first round of qualifications to wild card Claire Feuerstein. Her next tournament was the Sydney International, where she was eliminated in the final round of qualifying by Chanelle Scheepers in straight sets. She also suffered an early first round loss at the Australian Open to Monica Niculescu. Cornet also played one Fed Cup singles match against Slovakia, losing to former world No. 5 Daniela Hantuchová in straight sets.

Cornet was then awarded a wild card for the Open GdF Suez in Paris. Being the home favourite, her fans were greatly disappointed when she was knocked out of the tournament in the first round by eventual semifinalist Klára Zakopalová, 3–6, 1–6. Then, at the Monterrey Open, Cornet won her third match of the year against Tetiana Luzhanska, 6–4, 7–6 in the first round, but was defeated by second seed Sara Errani, 2–6, 3–6, in the second. She then fell in the first round of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel to Alberta Brianti in three sets.

Cornet's poor run continued when she fell during the qualifications of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. She then reached the final of the 100K Bahamas Women's Open, where she lost to Aleksandra Wozniak. After this, she headed to Miami for the Sony Ericsson Open, for which she qualified, but she went out in the first round to Shahar Pe'er. Cornet reached the second round at Stuttgart after defeating Anna Chakvetadze before losing to Maria Sharapova. Cornet then reached the final at the Internationaux de Strasbourg where she lost to Francesca Schiavone. At the French Open, Cornet lost to Zheng Jie in the first round.

Cornet then won the Bad Gastein tournament, her second singles title, defeating Yanina Wickmayer in the final. At Wimbledon, Cornet lost in the second round to eventual quarterfinalist Tamira Paszek. At the London Olympics, Cornet defeated Paszek in the first round before losing to Daniela Hantuchová. She competed in the women's doubles with Kristina Mladenovic. At the US Open, Cornet defeated wild card Nicole Gibbs in the first round. In the following round, she lost to fifth seed Petra Kvitová. She reached the quarterfinals at Guangzhou, losing to Sorana Cîrstea in straight sets. Cornet then entered the Kremlin Cup, defeating Anastasia Rodionova in the first round, only to be beaten by Samantha Stosur in the second round.

2013: Steady results at the Grand Slams

Cornet kicked off the 2013 season by playing in the Brisbane International singles tournament. She defeated Australian qualifier Bojana Bobusic in the first round by a score of 2–6, 6–3, 6–1. She drew world No. 3, Serena Williams, in the second round, and was defeated in two sets. The next week, Cornet played in the Moorilla Hobart International, but was beaten in the first round by Chanelle Scheepers. In the first round of the Australian Open, she defeated Marina Erakovic of New Zealand in a marathon match lasting 3 hours and 28 minutes. Cornet drew American Venus Williams in the second round, to whom she lost. She also played in the doubles tournament, partnering with German player Mona Barthel. They were, however, defeated in the first round by Alexandra Panova and Galina Voskoboeva.

Following the Australian Open, Cornet's WTA ranking climbed six places to No. 35. Her next tournament was the Open GdF Suez in Paris, France. Cornet drew the Swedish No. 1 Sofia Arvidsson in the first round, and defeated her in three sets. However, Cornet lost in the second round to Lucie Šafářová. Cornet did not fare well in doubles either, as she and her partner Kristina Mladenovic were defeated in the first round by 2013 Australian Open doubles champions Errani and Vinci.

Cornet kicked off her clay-court season at the Copa Colsanitas tournament in Colombia where she was defeated in the second round defeat, Cornet improved upon this performance in her next tournament, the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, reaching the semifinals before being defeated by eventual champion Sara Errani. Next, she won the Internationaux de Strasbourg, defeating Lucie Hradecká in the final. She entered the French Open playing some of her best tennis of the year, and advanced to the third round before being defeated by third-seeded Victoria Azarenka. On 24 June, she achieved a season-high ranking of No. 31.

At Wimbledon, Cornet advanced to the third round, a personal best for the tournament, but suffered a disappointing defeat by Flavia Pennetta there after winning the first set 6–0 and having match point in the second. During the US Open series, Cornet reached the semifinals at the Citi Open where she lost to Andrea Petkovic. Then, she recorded two consecutive third round appearances at Toronto and Western & Southern Open where she lost to Sara Errani and Magdaléna Rybáriková respectively. At the final Grand Slam event of 2013, the US Open, Cornet was seeded 26th and reached the third, losing to Victoria Azarenka in three sets.

In September, Cornet played in Guangzhou as the second seed. She lost to Yvonne Meusburger in quarterfinals. She then suffered two first round defeats at Tokyo and Beijing in the hands of Stosur and veteran Schiavone respectively. At the Kremlin Cup, Cornet defeated Elina Svitolina in round one before succumbing to Stosur again. Her final tournament of 2013 was the Tournament of Champions held in Sofia. She qualified for the first time as a result of winning the title in Strasbourg earlier and was the seventh seed. However, she lost in round robin stage, managing just one win over Maria Kirilenko via retirement. Her other two losses came in the hands of Simona Halep and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Cornet ended the year at No. 27, her highest since 2008.

2014: Serena Williams' nemesis

Cornet started the year ranked 26th. She teamed with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win the Hopman Cup for Team France. She lost to Maria Sharapova in the third round at the Australian Open. At the Dubai Duty-Free Championships, in what was the fourth match between them, Alize defeated world No. 1 Serena Williams for the first time to reach the finals. However, also in a fourth match against the American, she lost in straight sets to world No. 44 Venus Williams in the final. After Dubai, Cornet moved three places up the rankings, to No. 23. She defeated Camila Giorgi in April to win the BNP Paribas Katowice Open in Poland, her fourth career title. She defeated Agnieszka Radwańska, the top seed en route to the final.

Cornet then competed at the Madrid Open where she faced Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round but lost in three sets. She defeated Kirsten Flipkens in the first round at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia but lost to Ana Ivanovic in the second round. Cornet was the defending champion at the Internationaux de Strasbourg but lost to Camila Giorgi in a tight three-setter in the first round. At the second Grand Slam of the year, the French Open, Cornet was seeded 20th, her highest seeding in more than four years. She defeated wildcard Ashleigh Barty easily in round one. She then faced American wild card Taylor Townsend but lost in three roller coaster sets. Cornet dropped to the world No. 24 after the French Open.

Alize kicked off her grass-court season by defeating Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski in the first round at the Aegon International in Eastbourne. She then faced fifth seeded Angelique Kerber but lost in three sets after winning the second set 6–1. Cornet was seeded 25th at Wimbledon and defeated WTA rising star Anna Schmiedlová 4–6, 6–4, 6–2 in the first round. In the second round, she defeated Czech Petra Cetkovská. In the third round, she faced Serena Williams and defeated her for the second time in a row. She played in the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time in five years, her first at Wimbledon. Alize lost to 13th seed Eugenie Bouchard in the fourth round.

Cornet was the top seed at the Swedish Open but suffered a shocking defeat to Estonian Anett Kontaveit in the first round. Her clay season saw her accumulating just two wins and five losses. Cornet then participated in Washington, D.C. where she was seeded third. She once again suffered an opening-round exit to rising American Shelby Rogers. At the Rogers Cup, Alize defeated American Lauren Davis in the first round. In the second round, she faced the eighth seed Victoria Azarenka and lost in three sets. The following week at Cincinnati, Cornet lost to young American Madison Keys in the first round. She was the 22nd seed at the US Open and defeated fellow countrywoman Amandine Hesse and Daniela Hantuchová in her first two matches before succumbing to Lucie Šafářová.

In September, Cornet travelled to Guangzhou for the Guangzhou International. She was seeded second and was the sole seed to advance past the first round. Cornet reached the final after defeating the likes of Yulia Putintseva, former champion Shahar Pe'er, Hsieh Su-wei and Timea Bacsinszky before falling to Monica Niculescu in straight sets. Cornet competed in the Wuhan. She defeated Romina Oprandi in round one before recording her third straight over Serena Williams, this time via retirement. Cornet became the first player since Justine Henin in 2007 to defeat Serena three times in a season. She then booked her place in the quarterfinals with a three-set win over Kirsten Flipkens. It was Cornet's first quarterfinal at a Premier-5 event. She then lost in the quarterfinal round to Eugenie Bouchard, the tournament's eventual runner-up.

2015: Out of the top 40 in the year-end rankings

Cornet started her year by playing for France at the Hopman Cup. She won all three of her Group-B singles matches, beating Heather Watson of Great Britain 6–2, 6–2; Casey Dellacqua of Australia 4–6, 7–5, 6–1; and Agnieszka Radwańska of Poland 6–4, 2–6, 7–5. Due to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga withdrawing from the Hopman Cup because of an arm injury, Cornet's mixed-doubles partner was Benoît Paire. They beat the Polish team Agnieszka Radwańska/Jerzy Janowicz (4–6 ret.) and the Australian team Casey Dellacqua/Marinko Matosevic (7–6, 7–5), but lost to the British team Heather Watson/Andy Murray 4–6, 6–2, [8-10]. France did not qualify for the final as they only finished Group B in third position. At the Premier tournament in Sydney, Cornet lost in the first round to third seed Radwańska 3–6, 2–6.

For the whole of 2015, Cornet managed to advance beyond the last 16 of the singles main draw of a WTA Tour tournament only twice; she lost in the singles quarterfinals at the International tournaments in Katowice and Hong Kong.

2016: Fifth WTA singles title, Fed Cup final

At the Brisbane International in January, Cornet defeated her compatriot Kristina Mladenovic in the first round before falling to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round. She next played in the Hobart International, where she won the singles title by defeating Eugenie Bouchard in the final with a score of 6–1, 6–2.

She next played in the Australian Open, where she defeated Bojana Jovanovski in the first round but then lost to the Chinese qualifier Zhang Shuai.

For the rest of 2016, Cornet managed to advance beyond the last 16 of the singles main draw of a WTA tournament only once; she lost to Janković in the quarterfinals at the International tournament in Hong Kong held in October. She ended the year ranked No. 41 in the world in the singles rankings, two places higher than the previous year. She competed at the 2016 Olympics in the women's singles, beating Johanna Larsson before losing to Serena Williams.

2017: First Premier final in doubles

Cornet played her first tournament of the year at the Brisbane International. Being unseeded, she defeated No. 7 seed Elena Vesnina and Christina McHale in the first and second round respectively before causing a big upset in the quarterfinals by beating Dominika Cibulková, the No. 2 seed. Garbiñe Muguruza (seeded No. 4) retired after she was trailing Cornet 1–4 in the first set of the semifinal, enabling Cornet to reach the final (her second Premier career final), where she lost to No. 3 seed Karolína Plíšková 0–6, 3–6.

At the Australian Open, Cornet was seeded No. 28. She defeated French wild card Myrtille Georges in the first round before losing to Maria Sakkari in the second.

Cornet played in the 2017 Fed Cup World Group quarterfinal tie against Switzerland, in which she lost the first singles match (her only match) to Timea Bacsinszky 5–7, 4–6; France lost the tie 1–4.

On 16 February, Cornet withdrew from the Dubai Tennis Championships because of a torn pectoral muscle.

Cornet lost to Carla Suárez Navarro in the quarterfinals of the Monterrey Open. She suffered early exits in the singles main draw of her next four WTA tournaments in Rabat (first round), Madrid (first round), Rome (second round) and Strasbourg (first round). At the French Open, she upset No. 20 seed Barbora Strýcová in the second round, No. 9 seed Agnieszka Radwańska in the third before losing to No. 28 seed Caroline Garcia in the fourth round. After the French Open, Cornet lost in the singles main-draw first round of the next five tournaments (all of them WTA Tour tournaments) that she entered - Birmingham, Eastbourne, Wimbledon, Stanford and Toronto. She ended her five-singles match losing streak when she defeated Catherine Bellis in the first round of the Premier-5 tournament in Cincinnati before losing world No. 11 Dominika Cibulková in the second round.

In the second half of September, Cornet reached consecutively the singles quarterfinals of two WTA events - Guangzhou and Wuhan. At the Premier-5 tournament in Wuhan, she upset No. 6 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round before falling to the qualifier Maria Sakkari in the quarterfinals; that was just Cornet's third singles quarterfinal appearance in a Premier-Mandatory or Premier-5 tournament. In early October, the unseeded Cornet knocked out No. 10 seed Angelique Kerber in the second round of the Premier Mandatory China Open before losing to her compatriot Caroline Garcia in the third round. In her last WTA Tour tournament of 2017 in Moscow, Cornet defeated No. 8 seed Magdaléna Rybáriková in the second round before losing to Natalia Vikhlyantseva in the quarterfinals 6–4, 5–7, 3–6 in a three-hour match, meaning that Cornet advanced beyond the singles quarterfinals of a WTA tournament only once (in Brisbane) in 2017.

2018: Sixth WTA Tour singles title

On 11 January 2018, Cornet was charged by the ITF with missing three out-of-competition drugs tests that were to be conducted between November 2016 and October 2017. Under WADA rules, Cornet could face a suspension of up to two years. The case would be heard on 1 May 2018 in London. She would be allowed to play WTA and ITF tournaments until then, but if found guilty all prize money and rankings points accumulated during a certain period in 2017 would be forfeited. The French Tennis Federation stated that they would not select Cornet for the upcoming Fed Cup team tie against Belgium in February 2018, to allow her time to "prepare her defence" in front of an independent tribunal set up by WADA.

On 15 May, the ITF announced that the independent tribunal set up by WADA had cleared Cornet of the charge of missing the three out-of-competition drugs tests that were to be conducted between November 2016 and October 2017 because the Doping Control Officer (DCO) did not satisfy all of the requirements of article I.4.3 of the International Standard for Testing and Investigations in relation to the third missed drugs test. Specifically, the DCO did not do “what was reasonable in the circumstances (i.e. given the nature of the specified location) to try to locate Cornet, short of giving her any advance notice of the test”. For that reason, the third missed drugs test declared against Cornet no longer stood.

On the 22nd July, she won her sixth WTA Tour singles title, in Gstaad in Switzerland.

At the US Open, Cornet was given a code violation under Grand Slam rules for changing her shirt while on the court, which angered some as male players are not penalized for doing such. The next day, officials declared that players of any gender are allowed to change their shirt while sitting in their chair, and women can also change their shirts in a private location off the court, for which they will not be assessed a bathroom break.

2019

Cornet played for France at the Hopman Cup, alongside Lucas Pouille. France finished last in their group.

Cornet reached the semifinals in Hobart, where she lost to Sofia Kenin. At the Australian Open, Cornet was eliminated in the second round by Venus Williams.

At the Italian Open, Cornet won two qualifying matches to reach the singles main draw, where she defeated no. 9 seed and world no. 10 Aryna Sabalenka in the first round and lost her next match against Carla Suárez Navarro. Cornet was suffering from an injured abductor muscle and retired from the second round match against Suárez Navarro when the latter was leading 6-3, 3-0.

Apparel and equipment

Cornet wears Lotto clothing and shoes, and uses Babolat racquets.

WTA Tour career finals

Singles: 13 (6 titles, 7 runners-up)

Doubles: 6 (3 titles, 3 runners-up)

Team competition: 1 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Performance timelines

Singles

Only main-draw appearances and matches in the WTA Tour are included in the SR, Win–Loss and WTA Tour tournaments played records.

Doubles

Wins over top 10 players