Ct is certainly one of the longest finals in the history of Pro A. The records are approximate but the thrills went high, very high, on Saturday, after dark in Colomiers. The French champion took a long time to emerge and, in the end, it was the Breton flag of TC Quimperlé which floated above the jubilation of the players and supporters, at the end of a final double of a crazy intensity. The TCQ pair needed three tie-breaks to overcome that of Villa Primrose, Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Richard Gasquet (6-7, 7-6, 10-8), and reflex volleys from extraterrestrial from Sander Arends and Grégoire Jacq, heroes of this final.
Villa Primrose fails in its quest for a fifth French champion trophy, despite the contribution of Richard Gasquet throughout the Pro A campaign. For his last Interclubs, the former world No. 7 carried the Bordeaux club, but gave in to the super tie-break in singles and doubles, in front of the thousand supporters who came largely to see him at work in Colomiers.
Invasion of the court
The Bordelais nevertheless arrived in Haute-Garonne with the sign of favorite. But this status quickly wavered with the dry defeat of Elliot Benchetrit (6-2, 6-3), surprise of the Bordeaux starting line-up and preferred to Lucas Bouquet at n°4. A losing bet: against the doubles specialist Grégoire Jacq, who nevertheless abandoned his career in singles, the 584e world player took the tide, overwhelmed by the left paw of the former Biarritz Olympique player. On the neighboring court, the Primrosian n°2 Hugo Grenier lost the first set against the Russian Alexeï Vatutin, before managing to regain the upper hand and win in the super tie-break of the third round (5-7, 6-2 , 10-4).
The Gironde dynamic was quickly stifled by Mathias Bourgue’s failed start against Vitaliy Sachko. Led 4-0, the 485e world recovered late, but never managed to overturn the Ukrainian (387e) ultra-aggressive, despite numerous wasted opportunities (6-4, 7-5).
The Benchetrit/Grenier pair gave hope to the Bordelais, but the ax ended up falling on this last crazy double, in a Davis Cup atmosphere. Arriving by night bus from Finistère, the kop of around fifty Breton supporters were able to invade the Columérine clay court, sound the foghorns and resound the drums: they left home with a second French champion title. For Villa Primrose, if despondency prevailed in the locker room, captain Edouard Roger-Vasselin, at the club since 2017, believes he has experienced “one of his most beautiful campaigns in Bordeaux. With Richard’s contribution, the atmosphere was great but unfortunately, there is this ending. We would have liked to get this 3-3 and turn this match into an even crazier scenario. We’ll do it again next year.”
