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‘Home’ crowd help France’s Cornet to Hong Kong victory

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Hong Kong: France’s number two Alize Cornet swept into the second round of the Hong Kong Open on Monday — helped by a “home” crowd. The eighth seed brushed aside Israel’s Julia Glushko 6-1, 6-2, to record her first victory in more than a month after a string of first round exits in Chinese tournaments. But the 28-year-old credited her change in fortunes with the support of her compatriots at the Victoria Park venue. “Whenever I play in Hong Kong I feel at home because there’s a lot of French people here, there is a big French community and I can feel it when I’m on court,” she said.


“I always feel the support from them but also the people from Hong Kong.” She added she had “zero expectations” at her third outing in Hong Kong and discounted any notion that US Open champion Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal from the event would boost her chances. “Today I finally won one after a month and a half which feels good,” Cornet said. “I enjoyed my time on the court, it really felt as if it was nice to be here.” She added: “(Osaka’s) out but there are many, many other good players... so I don’t think it influences things.” — AFP


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