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Alize Cornet has criticized the Italian Open organizers for their scheduling of the women's final between Elena Rybakina and Anhelina Kalinina.
On Saturday, May 20, the men's semifinal match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev, which began at 4:25 pm local time, ended more than five hours later due to lengthy rain delays.
This in turn led to a series of postponements for the women's final, initially slated to begin at 7:00 pm local time. As a result, the clash between Rybakina and Kalinina eventually commenced at 11:00 pm local time.
Alize Cornet took to social media and expressed her disappointment regarding the scheduling of the Italian Open women's final. She stated that it was "a little sad" to see the final of one of the biggest WTA events of the season starting at 11 pm, with no spectators in the stands. She also questioned why the women's final couldn't be held alongside the men's final the following day.
"A little sad to see that the women's final of one of the biggest @wta event of the season is starting at 11pm. Nobody in the stands of course, and not really cool for both players to start such an important match so late...Why not put both men and women's finals tomorrow?," Cornet tweeted.
Serena Williams' former coach Rennae Stubbs echoed Cornet's sentiments and called out the tournament for failing to get the scheduling in order despite having 10 days at their disposal.
"Got 10 days to get the timing right and they still couldn’t do it," Stubbs commented under Cornet's tweet.
Elena Rybakina wins Italian Open title after Anhelina Kalinina retires mid-match
Elena Rybakina won her second WTA 1000 title of the season after Anhelina Kalinina was forced to retire from the Italian Open final due to an injury to her left thigh.
Rybakina fought back from a 1-3 deficit in the opening set to level the scores at 3-3. She broke Kalinina's serve again in the 10th game to win the opening set 6-4. At 1-0 down in the second set, the Ukrainian retired from the match shortly after calling for a medical time-out.
With her victory, Elena Rybakina will make her maiden appearance in the top 5 of the WTA rankings (No. 4) when they are updated on Monday, May 22.
