11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 11-7 (70m)

[4] Alejandro Garbi

11-5, 11-2, 11-8 (45m)

[3] Steve Finitsis

13-11, 11-2, 11-4 (45m)

[2] Shaun Le Roux

06- Dec, Qualifying Finals:

Chris Ferguson bt  Jonathan Geekie  11-2, 11-3, 11-5 (26m)
Johan Bouquet bt Tom De Mulder   10-12, 11-7, 13-11, 11-7 (50m)
Carlos Cornes bt Pablo Rawden    11-4, 4-11, 11-8, 11-6 (32m)
Florent Pontiere bt Hugo Varela    11-8, 12-10, 11-8 (40m)
 

FRENCH CORNER

Le parcours s'arrête là en quart de finale ce matin pour moi malheureusement...

il y avait tout à fait la place de passer, mais pas assez bien joué tout simplement, il a été meilleur aujourd'hui (Alex Garbi).

Toujours agréable de trouver du soleil et 20 degrés en décembre sinon, je remercie mon ami David Vidal pour l'organisation du tournoi et sa gentillesse.

Au-delà de ça, toujours une très bonne ambiance entre la plupart des joueurs sur le circuit PSA et ça fait du bien de jouer.. voilà, ce qui donne envie de poursuivre et pousser toujours plus dur pour continuer le petit bout de chemin, je pense passer top 5 mondial normalement avec ce résultat..

Une pensée à mes parents, mes copains et mes copines aussi, plus sérieusement à ceux auprès de qui j'ai le plaisir d'intervenir là haut (JDP, PUC, Coface, BNP).

Peace out et bonnes fêtes à todos.
        

Alex Garbi vs Robert Downer:

Alex was dominating and showing a great accuracy in the front and back of the court until 9-2 and then, things changed completely. Robert found a chance to get back into the game and he leveled the score, but the spaniard pushed to close the first game 11-9.

Second and third were very similar games. Alex was dominating the rallies and Downer tried to attack with the volley but he hit the tin to many times and gave Alex a score advantage that he used to close the macth by 3-0.

Robert: “I started too slow and not getting on top of my length and I was punished for that by Alexś volleys and straight drops, at 10-2 down I played very relaxed and with some good length and attacking shots was able to pull back to 9-10 only to be on the unlucky end of a long rally for him to take the 1st 11-9.

"The 2nd and 3rd were in similar fashion, slow starting and anxious to push forward and volley, a few simple changes and a large patch of the points would have gone my way. Next time I look forward to being more patient and confident on the T.”

Johan Bouquet vs Leandro Romiglio:

Not too much to say about this one. Johan had an easy first game; Leandro was not really there.

The second was different, Romiglio started hitting the ball harder and pacing up the game, but still not enough to put the frenchman in danger.

With 2-0 up, Bouquet controlled the game completely and despite the long and hard rallies at the beginning of the third Leandro lost his focus and could not get back into the game. Good win for Johan.

David Vidal vs Sebastian Weenik

This match was quite intense. Both players started with a high pace and during the first two games the score was pretty close all the time. Vidal was putting a lot of pressure in the front of the court and finding some lovely winners.

Third and fourth game were a different kettle of fish. Weenink found his rhythm and kept the Spaniard under pressure with some good volleys and took the next two to level the score at 2-2 in games.

In the fifth Vidal paced up the game and tried to volley and attack much more than in the other games, and it worked... until 9-4 up for him, from there on he did five unforced errors in a row, and a good rally from Weenink gave him a match ball. Then serve from the left and Vidal hit volley into the nick. 10-10, a tin from Vidal, match ball for Weenink and the story repeats until 13-11 for Sebastiaan in a very fair match.

Joe Lee vs Florent Pontiere

A good first game for the frenchman, but Lee knew how to close the game and he did in the tiebreak. After that, the englishman dominated the rest of the match closing it by 3-0

Steve Finitsis vs Chris Ferguson

I cannot say too much about this much because I just watched it in patched. Steve was attacking quite well specially with some lovely backhand volleys into the nick. He took the match by 3-0.

Alex Ingham vs Chris Fuller

Although being a 3-0 score, it was a long match. It seemed that Chris user a “wear the opponent out” tactic as he played too long most of the match. But this just worked in patches. Alex was moving the ball around the court at will and playing some amazing backhand drops from the back of the court.

Still, Chris tried really hard to take the T and volley, and he did it, but Alex was retrieving every single ball today and it was very tough to get a point out from him.

After 55 minutes he was the one that claimed the next round spot.

Bart Ravelli vs Carlos Cornes

It was a close match. Today both of them played well, Bart was quick in the front of the court a put a lot of pressure during the whole match with his backhand drops and counterdrops.

On his side, Carlos played a good length and used the volley pretty well.
The third game was a very long one, nearly 30 minutes, and a lot of intense rallies specially at the end, and it was Carlos who won it. But it seemed that it tool a lot of energy from him and the fourth game was clearly for Ravelli.

Matias Tuomi vs Shaun Le Roux

It seemed a slow start from Le Roux, and Matias was not going to let the opportunity go, so he took the first game in the tie break.
After that, despite the efforts and good retrieving from Matias, it was Shaun who was in control of the T most of the time and he needed 53 minutes to close the match as Matias was never giving him an easy point and fought until the last ball.