Wimbledon 2022: Ajla Tomljanovic beats Alize Cornet to advance to quarterfinals

Former world no.1 Chris Evert, who is battling ovarian cancer, one of the first to congratulate Aussie after her gripping three-set Wimbledon victory over Alize Cornet.

Ajla Tomljanovic celebrates victory against Alize Cornet at Wimbledon. Picture: Getty Images

Ajla Tomljanovic burst into tears with her family after her stunning three-set, fourth round Wimbledon triumph over Alize Cornet overnight (AEST) – but the first person to phone with congratulations was tennis legend Chris Evert.

The former world no.1 has been a long-time friend to Tomljanovic, ever since she attended her training camps in Boca, United States, from the age of 13.

Tomljanovic said the two had been talking more than ever even, although at one point she didn’t want to bother her because of the problems the 18-time Grand Slam winner was enduring.

Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic (right) is congratulated by France’s Alize Cornet after their round of 16 women’s singles tennis match on the eighth day of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club. Picture: AFP

Evert’s younger sister Jeanne died of ovarian cancer, aged 62, in 2020. After her own bout of surgery, further genetic testing in January showed that Evert, 67, was also in early stages of the disease and she has since undergone chemotherapy.

“I remember telling her ‘oh my gosh, I don’t want to bother you with my problems because you’re doing something way harder’ and she is like ‘no, no, I love that distraction’ and we love each other so we were there for each other,’’ said Tomljanovic, who was dealing with a break-up with her then-boyfriend Matteo Berrettini.

She revealed that in Monday’s congratulatory phone call, Evert told her three times “you’re in the quarterfinals again”.

“And she kept saying how happy she was for me. I said ‘can you believe I am here after a couple of months ago, (given) the conversations we were having?’ and she said ‘I do believe because you always work hard’.

“The fact that I repeated what I did last year also solidifies that it wasn’t a fluke.’’

It's back-to-back Wimbledon quarter-finals for @Ajlatom 🇦🇺

The Aussie fights from a set down against Alize Cornet to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-3#Wimbledonpic.twitter.com/WwLZWtM75T

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 4, 2022

Tomljanovic lost to eventual Wimbledon champion and close friend Ash Barty in last year’s Wimbledon quarterfinals. While she believes she will again be the underdog against 17th seed Elena Rybakina, of Kazakhstan, she said she felt she was in a different position this year.

“Elena is a great player and whoever in the quarters is doing great but I think it’s definitely a different match-up for me and I think I have a better shot (at winning),’’ she said.

As he has been doing throughout the Championship, Tomljanovic’s father Ratko only booked London hotel accommodation for the day after her next match, and once again was on his iPad to extend their booking immediately after his daughter’s 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win.

Ajla Tomljanovic gets emotional after her victory. Picture: AFP

“Luckily this hotel has a free room,’’ she said, smiling, and adding that maybe he doesn’t want to jinx her results.

“Maybe it is like reverse psychology for him.’’

Tomljanovic said the match against Cornet, who had ended the 37-match winning streak of world no.1 Iga Swiatek on Saturday, was physically very high level.

“The match didn’t feel like it was in my control, it felt like a coin toss a little bit because she fights ‘til the end. She wasn’t giving me much and that’s why in the end I was little bit disbelieving that I actually won,” she said.