Men's Semi-Finals:
ENGLAND 4-0 WALES
PETER NICOL 3-0 ALEX GOUGH 9/6 9/0 9/0
LEE BEACHILL 2-0 DAVID EVANS 9/3 9/0
JAMES WILLSTROP 3-0 GREG TIPPINGS 9/2 9/4 9/7
ADRIAN GRANT 3-0 RICKY DAVIES 9/2 9/2 9/0
NETHERLANDS 0-4 FRANCE
TOMMY BERDEN 1-3 THIERRY LINCOU 3/9 9/8 1/9 4/9
LAURENS JAN ANJEMA 0-2 GREGORY GAULTIER 7/9 5/9
LUCAS BUIT 1-3 RENAN LAVIGNE 9/0 0/9 rtd
DYLAN BENNETT 0-3 LAURENT ELRIANI 0/9 2/9 7/9
FRANCE IN THE FINAL
It was expected. But some hiccups along the way.
Laurent Elriani, 28 years old, ranked 91, was facing Dylan Bennett,
ranked 78. The French crowd was present, and loud. And for once, the VIP seats
were nearly all taken, which changes of some events where the sponsors don’t
bother coming to the competition, and the best seats stay empty.
The first 2 games were pretty easy for the Frenchman, 9/0, 9/2. The 3rd was
going well, as Laurent was up 8/4. There were some close encounters, which led
one of the main sponsors behind me to say “C’est un sport de contact!” “It’s a
sport of close contact!”.
And then Laurent got stunned by a referee call, and let his concentration wonder
for a while.
“At 8/4, the ref’s decision surprised me. Then I wanted to finish too quickly, I
wasn’t patient enough. I got stuck. It gave Dylan some of his energy back, and
it became very difficult.”
Yes it did. 4/8. 5/8. 6/8. 7/8. The crowd was wild. It took Elriani 5 match
balls to give France their first point.
In came Renan Lavigne, ranked 21st, 30 years old, closely followed by
Lucas Buit, a darn good player, not PSA ranked as he is quite happy to stay
home with wife and children, his coach told me!
9/0 for the Dutch. Renan served 3 times. Short. Very short.
In the second, the game changed radically, and this time, it’s the French player
who won the game 9/0. And suddenly, the Dutch player retired, complaining of the
recurrence of an old hamstring injury.
Shame for the Netherlands. A victory in this match could have made a pretty
important difference.
And then Thierry Lincou, la star, our star, stepped in.
You have no idea of the admiration, the aura, that this young discreet and
gentle man carries round.
Consistently in England, I’m practically the only voice that is behind him. But
over here, I don’t have to be. And it feels good.
Thierry was playing Tommy Berden (ranked 34). The French number one got
up to 5/0 in the 1st game, then 8/1 to finally finish 9/3 on a stroke that
angered Berden who had a few words with the referee when he got out of court.
The media presence was very obvious, maybe a bit too much, and may have caused
Thierry to lose just a bit of his focus, and the second game 9/8 (the Dutchman
asked for 1). In that game, Thierry made a few mistakes, Tommy went for some
great drop shots, short drives and cross courts that forced Lincou to stretch
and stretch again.
Oups!
But then Thierry did what the great players do when in trouble. He regrouped,
and it took him 2 minutes, 2 MINUTES, to win the 3rd game 9/0.
At that point, a disheartened Burden reminded the Referees that, as France had
won 2 matches and 2 games, they were actually in the final. The referees advised
him to play on, as the crowd was large and probably wouldn’t have appreciated
another truncated match.
“I started to play very well, and I was very happy to win the second game. Then,
before I knew it, Thierry was up 8/0, and there was nothing I could do," said
Tommy after the match. "After that, I knew we had lost, and I didn’t want to go
on. But I did, in respect for the crowd. I just know I could have played better
than that."
Gregory Gaultier went on and played a dead rubber with Laurens Anjema
(ranked 32, training with Neil Harvey in Chingford) and won 9/3, 9/3, but I
didn’t see the match, as I was busy working…
So, a big day tomorrow, starting at 11 am with the French Ladies playing Belgium
for 3rd place. Then the English playing the Netherlands. We won’t see the Welsh
playing the Dutch, which is a shame, as you know the admiration I have for the
Welsh team (the game will be played at the Squash L’Hermine).
And then ... THE MATCH.
No need to say more.
|
France line up against Holland
Elriani v Bennett
Lavigne v Buit
Lincou v Berden
Rennes Portraits:
Jade, Thierry & Céline Lincou
|