In an evening that looked like fireworks, Fabien Galthié's team crushed Japan, Saturday November 9, for its return to the Stade de France, while in Angers, PSG easily disposed of the SCO, in a Ligue 1 weekend marked by the return of the Lyon-Saint Etienne derby, won by Les Gones. You had to be in Riyadh to find more suspense with the WTA Masters final won in the tie-break of the third and final set by Coco Gauff.
Rugby: winning return for the French XV with a great Antoine Dupont
The Blues started their autumn tour perfectly, Saturday November 9, by crushing Japan 52-12 at the Stade de France, the venue they found one year after their cruel defeat in the quarter-finals of the 2023 World Cup. Fabien's men Galthié made a perfect copy, with eight tries, including two doubles from Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Paul Boudehent.
This large victory is also not unrelated to the return of captain Antoine Dupont, after spending the summer with the French sevens rugby team which won gold at the Paris Games. Full of confidence one week before facing New Zealand for a shock which will serve as the first real test of the season. Blacks who won in Ireland (23-13), a week after a narrow success against England at Twickenham (24-22).
In the other matches of the weekend, the sensation came from Fiji, winners of Wales (24-19), a first since 2007. The Islanders were also the first to experience the 20-minute red card, a few hours before Scotland, beaten by South Africa (32-15).
Ligue 1: Lyon celebrates the return of the derby, mixed fortunes for Paris and Marseille
It has been almost three years since French football waited for the return of one of its most historic derbies. Winner of four of the previous five, with one draw, OL continued to showcase their regional domination against Saint-Etienne by mastering a match, ultimately winning only 1-0. Lyon is now 5th in the championship. ASSE, 16th, is virtually a barrage.
A derby ended an 11th day that began on Friday with the scathing 3-1 defeat against Auxerre for an OM who continue to show excitement at the Vélodrome. Monaco took advantage of this on Saturday to snatch second place from the Olympians with a 3-1 victory forged at the end of the match in Strasbourg.
Lille came close to also taking advantage of Marseille's setback to get on the podium, but conceded the equalizer on the last action of their match against Nice on Sunday (2-2). In the lead, PSG cruised on Saturday against Angers, scoring four goals in the first period to ensure a success without trembling (4-2). Paris is six points ahead of Monaco and nine ahead of Marseille.
Vendée Globe: the adventure begins for the 40 skippers
They left this Sunday at exactly 1:02 p.m. and no one can know precisely when they will return. The 40 skippers, a record, entered in the Vendée Globe set off on this demanding solo, non-stop round the world trip. The record of 74 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes and 46 seconds established by Armel Le Cléac'h could well be beaten during this edition with increasingly efficient IMOCAs.
The big start of the 10th edition of the Vendée Globe is given
It was at 1:02 p.m., as planned, that the grand start of the Vendée Globe 2024-2025, tenth of the name, was given. A total of 40 skippers, on IMOCAs with or without foils, were let go by the race management. A solo, non-stop and unassisted world tour opens up to them.
Tennis: Coco Gauff queen of the WTA Masters
A victory at the end of the suspense. The American Coco Gauff won the end-of-year WTA Masters on Saturday November 9, in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), the tournament bringing together the eight best world players of the season. After a fight lasting more than three hours (3h04), the world number 3 defeated the Chinese Qinwen Zheng (n°7) in three sets (3-6, 6-4, 7-6). At 20 years and seven months, the winner of the US Open 2023 becomes the youngest winner of the tournament since Maria Sharapova in 2004. To win her first title in this tournament, the American beat the world No. 2 and champion of the title Iga Swiatek in the groups and world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals.
The men's edition of the Masters has just started in Turin. Taylor Fritz against a failing Daniil Medvedev (6-4, 6-3) and Jannik Sinner against Alex de Minaur (6-3, 6-4), who has never beaten him in eight confrontations now, won without trembling. For the first time since 2001, neither Roger Federer, nor Novak Djokovic, nor Rafael Nadal are participating in this tournament, the 2024 edition of which appears to be less competitive than the previous ones.
Basketball: the Blues continue their flawless performance and have one foot and four toes at the EURO
In the Rimi Olympic Center in Riga and its capacity to accommodate less than a thousand spectators, the French team did the job on Sunday, winning by a wide margin 82-51. As against Israel three days earlier (94-52), Jean-Aimé Toupane was able to continue his squad review using twelve different players.
With four big victories in as many matches in these qualifications for the European Championship, the Olympic vice-champions are almost guaranteed to be there in June 2025. The Tricolores will meet in February to punch their ticket at home against the 'Ireland.
