The first match of the day brought a surprise as the tournament’s No. 3 seed, Alexandra Cadantu (ROU, No. 74), was easily defeated 6/0-6/3 by Maddalena Rybarikova (SVK, No. 94).
In the second match, Kristina Barrois (GER, No. 208), who had been performing perfectly by knocking out the No. 1 seed, could not withstand the very powerful play of Mayr-Achleitner (AUT, No. 101). The latter had fought the previous evening until 9 PM to win her match in 3 sets, after some mood swings due to the breaking of 3 racket strings, including one on match point. The string tension of this player is indeed very high (29 KG) and gives little forgiveness when she doesn’t hit the ball at the center.
Caroline Garcia (No. 156), our last French contender, won her match against Melinda Czink (HUN, No. 118) after pulling herself out of a very critical situation as she was trailing 7/5 and 5-1 in the tie-break of the 2nd set, which she eventually won 10-8. She won the 3rd set 6/4 after leading 5/2 by regaining a more rigorous footwork and security in her game, particularly thanks to spin. A match full of suspense, rather disjointed, in which both players had a low first serve percentage. Did the young 19-year-old Frenchwoman feel the pressure of the event in this tournament where many French players have successfully climbed into the world top 20 in the past? Perhaps the pre-match commentary announcing her as the great French hope or even the future world No. 1 (according to Andy Murray and Martina Navratilova) also put pressure on her? Or maybe it was just a set of circumstances of the day…
The last match of the day saw the victory of Yulia Putintseva, 17 years old, No. 163, the youngest player in the tournament, 6/3-7/6 against the Canadian Stéphanie Dubois (No. 106). She will face Caroline Garcia on Saturday afternoon in the second semi-final, a big duel in perspective as this young Russian is very combative, explosive, fast, and presents a quite varied game, mastering drop shots wonderfully. The first semi-final will pit M. Achleitner against M. Rybarikova at 2:30 PM.
Between these two matches, the 9-10-year-old final will take place on the center court, opposing Ambre Amat (15/5) from TC Antibes to Naomie François (30) from US Cagnes.
This splendid lineup will take place under the watchful eye of Jean Gachassin, the president of the FFT, who has come especially for the occasion.
