The 41st edition of the Open du Gard, which took place on Saturday January 4 at the Squash club des arenas in Nîmes, crowned Clermontois Hugo Roubinet and… Nîmese Valérie Prades.
On the occasion of the 41st edition of the Open du Gard, organized on Saturday at the Squash club des arenas, we were far from the two-day PSA tournaments, with prize money in dollars, which were held on the Nîmes courts a few years ago. years. Far in terms of the field presented in the men's and women's tables and the level displayed.
''This year, this Open du Gard is more of a regional formula than a national one''confirmed, between two matches, Cyril Hugues, organizer of an event reduced to one day.
On the three glass courts of the Nîmes enclosure, spectacle and suspense were nevertheless there, both in the two men's tables (A and B) and the women's.
Roubinet came out of six months without a match
If the traditional event at the beginning of January has lost a little of its splendor, two members of the French top 50 were still present in Gard.
Respected hierarchy, it was without much surprise that we found, in the final of table A, Hugo Roubinet, 44th French player (ranked 2A) and number 1 seed in Nîmes, and Yann Lancrenon, number 47 national and seeded number 2.
FREE NOON – JERÔME MORIN
''For me, it's a tournament to return to after six months without having played''stated Roubinet, 21 years old, after his success in five rounds, each closer than the other, on Lancrenon.
The Valencia club licensee had a few scares, leading 2 sets to 1 before escaping in the 5th (8-11, 11-8, 14-12, 7-11, 11-9). A good omen for the Clermont resident with a view to qualifying for the Elite championship (1st series), next week in Bordeaux.
The Squash club of the arenas in the spotlight among the ladies
The women's field was sure to crown a local of the stage. In the final, two Nîmes women faced each other with, again, a hierarchy respected until the end. Seeded number 1, Florence Fournier, who just came out of a maternity ward and took up the racket a month ago, was battling with Valérie Prades (No. 2).
At the end of a suspenseful final, this Nîmes-Nîmes duel turned to the advantage of the outsider, Prades winning in five indecisive rounds, coming back from 1 round to 2 and finishing stronger than his opponent (9- 11, 11-7, 7-11, 13-11, 11-6).
''It's great, we were happy to be there, we rarely play togetherunderlined the winner, who had never won this national level tournament in the past. It's always good to surpass yourself. For me, it was a bit of a challenge because Florence, eight years ago, was in the French top 20. I'm really happy.''
