Japan therefore did not smile until the end, for the second time in barely three months, in Alsatian colors. On August 25 in Yokohama, Strasbourg player Alex Lanier became, at 19 years old, the first Frenchman and the youngest player in history to win a World Tour Super 750 tournament. But this Sunday in Kumamoto, at a time when France was sound asleep (3 hours), the Mulhouseian Thom Gicquel and the Camblysian Delphine Delrue, 22es mixed world championships, did not manage to reach the moon in the Land of the Rising Sun.
After taking out four Asian pairs in straight sets in the previous rounds, the 2024 European champions stumbled on a fifth in the final of the Japan Masters. They thus missed their third title on the world circuit, after the Orléans Masters (Super 100) in 2019 and the Swiss Open in Basel (Super 300) in 2021. A coronation in this Japanese Super 500 would in fact have been the flashiest of their World Tour career.
At the end of an intense duel lasting 1h02′, lost 16-21, 21-10, 17-21, the five-time champions of France had to admit defeat against the Thais Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran, only associated since the Olympic Games in Paris this summer and logically modest 201es. But Puavaranukroh has, with his previous partner Sapsiree Taerattanachaiwas crowned world champion in 2021 and occupied the top of the hierarchy planetary.
“Obviously disappointing to lose a final”
Led from start to finish in the first round, the selected French Olympic doubles went it alone in the second. Still ahead in the third and last (13-11), they gave in in the very last exchanges.
“Not much is missing, but Puavaranukroh played really well,” comments a Gicquel divided between frustration and satisfaction. “It’s obviously disappointing to lose a final. But we didn’t come far and we had a pretty good match. So, we are still happy because our week was good. »
Now it’s time for the Red Star player and his comrade – as for Alex Lanier in singles and the other Mulhouse players Margot Lambert and Camille Pognante in women’s doubles – at the China Masters, from Tuesday to Sunday in Shenzhen. In the meantime, their Kumamoto performance should move them up to 17e rang.
