19e OPEN DE FRANCE JUNIOR 2012
MICHÈLE LECOMTE
du 16 au 19 février - Lille

Site Officiel

Not going to pretend I saw or heard of all the matches. But we had a few surprises today and a few seeds will play in the plates or small finals tomorrow.

Not a seed in sight in the U13 girls, Nour Yasser and Perein Abou Seada will assure tomorrow an Egyptian final.

For the U13 boys, a tough one for French Victor Crouin, a lucky boy as he takes the match 17/15 in the 4th. He'll play [9/16] Mostafa Montaser who keeps killing off his compatriots 3/0, he was initially 9/16....

A big disapointment for the French as Enzo Corigliano lost in straight games against solid English James Peach.

James was strong both mentally and physically, he was accurate at the back, and had all the time in the world to adjust his shots as Enzo lacked aggression and length today.

In yet another all Egyptian semis, we were spoiled. A great match, so disputed, lots of throwing themselves on the floor, splipping into splits, looooads of running, and great retrieving. In other words, a normal day in an Egyptian Office!!! Blal was stronger in the end, maybe more a question of self believe than anything else...

 

Didn't see anything from Tinne v Laura, but I saw a few rallies of the Kennedy/Harlow game. One of those matches looks like there is going to be only one winner, and you come back, and it's the other one that took the cake!

Basically, Georgina was making a lot of unforced errors, but she cut them down later on.... That could be an explanation. If somebody watched the end, please don't hesitate to write to me!!!



For the U17 Boys, it's English Boy Georges Parker that give Manuel Wanner the pusth, two very tough game, 12/10, 12/10, the 3rd easier. Claudio Pinto, seeded 2 on the reverse, didn't tremble and takes no French prisonner in Auguste Dussourd.

For the U17 girls, at LAST at bit of order, although seed 1 Kristyna Alexova took 5 games to get rid of Lucy Beecroft. Simpler for Emila Soini, S2, 3/0 against Anna Kimberley.

We are arriving to the "Cocorico Français", the shout of victory for the French at last, as we have a French winner in the U19 girls! No, not a clairvoyant, only Julia Lecoq that beats favourite Nele Gilis from Belgium in 4 games and will meet up with Melissa Alves who is still to lose a game in this tournament...

At least but not last, let's burn the seeding sheet for the U19, as it's all changed!!! Oli Holland took his time, but off Tom de Mulder goes, 3/2, and same difference for Richie Fallow, in 4!

ALL THE RESULTS

QUARTERS

En Bref, #3
Glorious Fooood

Photos # 3
Draws
(constantly updated)

Day 1

Day 2
 

U15 BOYS - QUARTERS
 

It was a bit of a nervous time for the French support for seed 1 Enzo Corigliano, from New Caledonia that now trains under Benoît Letourneau in Le Mans.  Enzo encountered heavy resistance from English boy Laurence Green, whose accuracy and determination really caused trouble to the tournament favourite.

But as often, the hard work produced in the first - Laurence did take the first game, but was physically a bit in the red at the end - paid off for Enzo, as he had much less resistance in the following two games.

Laurence found his second wind in the 4th, it was a really good game, but home boy wins it in the end, 11/7.

As for James Peach, he was just far too good for Lucas Rousselet today. The Frenchman just couldn't put much pressure on his opponent, couldn't find much length and kept running! To be noted that the boy used to be a bit chubby, and suddenly, he grew up, and is now all arms and legs!!!!

A big upset in the French camp, as 2 seed Jules Cremoux, from Casseneuil, has lost in three game against a very talented Mohanad Haikal, and for what I saw (very little), the Egyptian was in control, and from 2/0 up, was as all Egyptians, lethal. The French player tried everything he could think of, but Mohanad was a notch too high today.

Bradley Masters has nothing to reproach himself!

He gave all he had, fought very hard, and even took a game from a relentless Blal Nawar, who never lost his concentration and reassed quickly in the 4th...

A very entertaining match...

U13 BOYS - QUARTERS

Victor Crouin impressed me, I have to say. Such maturity in a 12 years old boy, his crosscourt lobs in particular were putting Luke Logan under tremendous pressure, and although the Irish has got an excellent counter drop, he just couldn't compete today on the long rallies.

Second game was pretty disputed, and had the British took it, things mentally could have been different. But as it stood, from 2/0, the mountain was just too high.

Tom Walsh, well, just dominated the French Hugo Mandil completely today.

As I never saw Hugo play before, I cannot compare this match to others, but today, Hugo was a bit overwhelmed by Tom's power and accuracy, and was not able to find much length, ending up finding the corner at the front and sending the ball to himself a lot. Tom, just too good.

Aly Mohamed Hassan
(winner of James Wyatt)

A big match Wyatt/Hassan was, I missed the first game, that apparently was pretty nice. But what I saw were excellent too.

James looked a bit tired physically for the 2nd and 3rd, and although he fought hard, keeping in pretty long rallies, the Egyptian accuracy at the back plus his patience made him very dominant territorially.

In the fourth, having recovered, the English boy was very much in the match. A few collisions as the Egyptian was clearing the ball, but very few decisions in a well structured, nearly "occidental" match, with long disputed rallies, and a lot of points won at the back.

As for Montaser/Seada, the rallies were as short and furious as the Wyatt/Hassan was structured and patient! Two attackers, very much in a hurry to finish! The little Seada - made me think about Omar Abdel Aziz for the reactions, bless him - was a bit too all over the place and Mostafa just took advantage of it. A nice match though, played between two friends...