CIt was the expected suspense with a little madness. Such was the atmosphere at the end of the doubles which tipped the victory to the side of the Primrosiens over the Parisians this Wednesday for the second day of the French championships. But not that much. Because the Bordelais, who led 3 points to 1 after the singles and therefore had a draw in their pocket, could easily envisage victory. “She would be welcome before facing even better-rated teams,” recalled President Emmanuel Cruse before the meeting.
But – interclubs oblige – the part of surprise was there with this double 1 made up of the team Richard Gasquet – Édouard Roger-Vasselin opposed to Robin Haase – August Holmgren, no less. The Bordeaux duo won the first set (6/1) in just 20 minutes, but stalled in the second (2/6) and especially in the super decisive game (8-10).
Enough to make Gasquet chafouin: “As much as I was happy with my single (won against the Dane Holmgren), I made too many mistakes in this match (smile) and since I had not played again since the Metz tournament which is on hard, the day's program was certainly a little too substantial for me! » At 38 years old, he was nevertheless delighted to be associated with Roger-Vasselin, ranked in the top twenty pairs in the world. An association that was especially reminiscent of the Paris Lagardère of 20 years ago remains for the director of Villa Primrose, Jean-Baptiste Perlant: “This pair is formidable! But also crumbly under this rule of the decisive point which can tip the result very quickly to one side or the other! »
The simple insured
And this is what happened on the parallel court in favor of double 2 for Elliot Benchetrit and Hugo Grenier who, in a somewhat similar way, concluded the first set on the Lamasine -Debru pair with a nice (6/ 2 in 23 minutes). The Parisians, who were not given much of their skin, pulled themselves together in the second to obtain a second set ball which Elliot Benchetrit saved with a superb passing before single-handedly converting the last three points, the set and the match. Hugo Grenier was able to recover from his mishap in singles. A victory against the Parisians which propelled the locals to first place, tied with Clermont-sur-Oise which was meanwhile held by Annecy-le-Vieux (3-3).
Enough to satisfy Captain Perlant. The latter noted the good performance of his men in the singles which, admittedly, had started badly, with the victory of Parisian Tristan Lamasine who had surprised Hugo Grenier just arrived from the Lyon Challenger where he was still playing Monday evening! But this little pitfall had been erased by the following three victories. First that of Luca Bouquet. For his first match with the Bordeaux club, he had placed in the simple 4 of the left-handed Corentin Denolly. There was that of Mathias Bourgue who sparked against the young hopeful Gabriel Debru, 18 years old and fresh from a victory at the start of the month in a Greek Future. With one set everywhere, he pushed him into a super uncontested decisive game (10-3).
And finally the serenity of Richard Gasquet. The Biterrois, former semi-finalist at Wimbledon and the US OPen, mounted the extent of his palette on Holmgren who, by dint of hitting hard, had multiplied the slag at the end of the match. “Having secured the singles had not been the case in Annecy-le-Vieux where only Grenier and Bourgue had won,” noted Perlant. “It’s a guarantee of our survival before playing Strasbourg on Saturday.”
Results
Simple Grenier (VP) b Lamasine (TCP) 6-4, 3-6, 3-10 ; Bouquet (VP) b Denolly (TCP) 6-3, 7-5 ; Gasquet (VP) b Holmgren (TCP) 7-6 (3), 6-4 ; Bourgue (VP) b Debru (TCP) 4-6, 6-4, 10-3.
Doubles Haase – Holmgren (TCP) b Gasquet Roger Vasselin (VP) 1-6,6-2, 10 -8 ; Grenier – Benchetrit (VP) b Lamasine -Debru (TCP) 6-2, 6-6 (4).
