"After 30 minutes we were dying on court" says Cornet after stunning win over Halep

Alize Cornet reached her maiden grand slam quarterfinal at the 2022 Australian Open by defeating Simona Halep 6-4 3-6 6-4.

It's a fairytale story for Alize Cornet in Melbourne as the French veteran dropped a bombshell days into the event. She admitted that 2022 is potentially her final season and that makes this event possibly the last Australian Open she will ever play. She was able to reach the quarterfinal after stellar play and even more brilliant victories.

After the match she said:

"It feels amazing. The battle that I had with Simona today with this heat, after 30 minutes of game (time) we were dying on the court and we kept going for two-and-a-half hours. Congrats to Simona because I know she struggled a lot and I admire this player so much. She's such a fighter and she's such an example for me.To beat her today to go to my first quarterfinal is just a dream come true. I don't know what to say, it's just magic."

Cornet detailed some of the issues she overcame in the match against Halep:

"I think I just stopped thinking after 30 minutes of playing. My brain was already overloaded, my vision was not clear anymore, and I was shaking. But I thought on the other side of the court she was not feeling much better than me and of course my box helped me so much. They were so present behind me on every point. That's why we play tennis. That's why I keep playing tennis, it's for this moment where I can share all these emotions with (the crowd) and while the journey goes on, I still can't believe it."