All good series come to an end. The undefeated streak of the Nice CPC, which had lasted since December 6, 2011, came to an end last night in Metz (4-1).
The Lorrains, stronger in terms of individual rankings but far from having secured their survival, were coming off a convincing victory in Rouen (2-4). The Niçois, despite a comfortable victory in the first leg (4-0) but without the Mexican Marcos Madrid who left to prepare for his Olympic qualification tournament (from March 4 to 6 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), thus became the second victim of Metz’s resurgence.
The evening couldn’t have started better. Anthony Peretti, the Corsican from Nice CPC, indeed cooled the eagerness of the experienced Belgian Philippe Saive in three quick sets, achieving a noteworthy performance. But success then eluded the men of Cédric Rouleau and Olivier Maero. Of the next sixteen sets, nine were contested with the score advantage (only a two-point difference) and seven of them were won by Metz.
This fourth defeat of the season pushed the Aiglons off the Pro B podium. Saint-Louis, victorious over Villeneuve-sur-Lot (4-2), and Rouen, which shared points with Issy-les-Moulineaux (3-3), now lead ahead of Nice (5th).
The Azuréens will return to their Raoul-Dufy hall for the reception of Issy, a true gala match, on Tuesday, March 13 at 8 p.m.
-Metz TT beats Nice CPC 4 to 1
Anthony Peretti (NCPC, Fra, No. 104) defeats Philippe Saive (MTT, Bel, No. 61) 3 sets to 0 (11-2, 11-7, 11-6)
Tian Zichao (MTT, Bel, No. 57) defeats David Zombori (NCPC, Hon, No. 66) 3 sets to 1 (9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6)
Filip Szymanski (Pol, No. 50) defeats Anthony Geminiani (NCPC, Fra, No. 70) 3 sets to 1 (11-9, 13-11, 2-11, 13-11)
Saive defeats Zombori 3 sets to 0 (15-13, 11-7, 11-7)
Szymanski defeats Peretti 3 sets to 2 (14-12, 13-11, 8-11, 11-13, 13-11).
