Saint-Gaudens, center of the tennis world, a week’s space. Whatever the discipline, there are few sporting events which bring together, in the Cité Commingeoise, a meeting of the planetary level of this ilk. From Monday and until Sunday, the world gratin of female tennis has been competing for small yellow bullets on the courts of the avenue de l’Isle, under the enchanted eyes of a connoisseur and gracefully invited audience.
At the head of the Aitf Organizer Association, assisted by his three sons, Michel Burnet therefore renewed this year the 28th edition of the women’s Tennis open, a tournament with $ 75,000 of awards, the only international women’s tennis competition in Occitania. The organization welcomes a good fifty athletes, from all over the world, most of them with their coaches, their guides. The arbitral body, led by Belgian Nicolas Hautem, has around thirty members. All complete the rooms of the city’s hotels. Among the players, we note the presence of the Chinese Sijia Wei (WTA 129), the French Elsa Jacquemot (143) and Jessika Ponchet (146), the Russian Tatiana Prozorova, to name the first four heads of standard.
Before the start of the main draw which opposes, from this Wednesday, 32 competitors in the running, the game of qualifications decided of the last eight registered. Monday, the weather was not mild. The pouring rain required to use the covered shorts and the extinction of the lights was only effective after midnight. The eight technicians of the municipal team, worthy of Roland-Garros, hardly spared their efforts, without counting. Tie, unclog, rid, sweep …
And, from the first hours of play, the show was there. From the 32 players pretending to the last eight qualifying places, the tone was set in pretty way. The French people Diana Martynov, Alice Ramé, Julie Belgraver, the Romanian Oana Simion, the Czech Anna Siskova, the Hungarian Luca Udvardy and the Italian Jessika Bertholdo came out victorious from the two confrontations to the Bouteret which were offered to them. The double tournament started on Tuesday and opposes until Saturday twelve pairs. The French Estelle Cascino and Manon Léonard and the Russian Alina Charaeva associated with the Kazake Zhibek Kulambayeva passed the first step.
