Saturday – women’s finalists and men’s semi-finalists are decided

Day two of the French Open started very early for some, especially the men as they had a full 32 draw.

Men’s singles Ternon and Griffiths upset the seedings

The first round matches had a couple of upsets. Tournament director Joss Gadé did well to beat up and coming junior Lucas Steyer +8 (21-10 14-21 23-21 16-14). Fellow Frenchman and world no 137 Laurent Cocriamont also upset the seedings by beating world no 47 +1 in a thrilling match (21-8 21-12 12-21 9-21). Switzerlands Strässle also did well to beat world no 57 Mandrin Mouchet +9 (21-15 7-21 21-12 21-13). The top eight seeds got through to the quarter finals, some having harder matches than others. No 1 seed Leon Griffiths hasn’t even touched a tennis racket yet, winning both his matches well before having to go to tennis. He beat Andre [7] +35 (21-14 21-14 21-10). He will face Sylvain Ternon [6] who overcame Oliver Bühler [3] in a very tense quarter final battle. Especially squash got very heated, with some referee decisions, and emotions ran high. Ternon got a big lead in badminton, and did well to take squash 21-15 which meant he only needed 5 points in tennis. He won +11 (17-21 21-6 21-15 5-11). Unfortunately, no 4 seed Schaefer had to withdraw his quarter final due to injury, so Vaclahovsky [8] received a walkover. Current World Champion Luke Griffiths beat Gadé in his first match, winning +23 (22-20 21-10 21-11) edging out a close table tennis game before winning badminton and squash quite convincing. He played no 2 seed and world no 3 Nicolas Lenggenhager. Lenggenhager got off to a great start, taking badminton 21-14 before Griffiths took badminton with the same numbers. Griffiths then went on to win squash 21-9 and tennis 10-0 setting up a semi-final against Vaclahovsky.

Women’s singles – Jaussein sets up a surprise final against Eisler [2]

Marie Jaussein is playing her first international tournament, and doing so in great fashion so far. She beat Nienke Veldkamp in their opening match +23 (21-10 21-2 14-21). She went on to beat no 1 Alex Ogram from the UK +26 (21-11 21-1 17-21). Both very strong opening matches where she didn’t have to go to tennis. She played fellow French player Flore Allègre, who beat no 3 seed Dara Ladner +23 (23-25 21-4 21-13). It was a very exciting and even semi-final match up. Jaussein took table tennis 22-20, before taking enough points in badminton to stay close 15-21. She went on to win squash 21-19, with some very smart volleys, and also helped by some unforced errors from Allègre. The match was so close that both needed to win tennis to win the match. Jaussein took charge after a shaky start, winning 21-10. A great debut on the IWT world tour so far. After the match she said that a key moment was getting this many points in badminton, as she knew Flore was the stronger badminton player. She will now play no 2 seed Nicole Eisler in the final. Eisler won her first match +22 (21-11 21-12 21-18) against Pauline Cavé from France. She played no 4 seed Haurant, who had a tremendous battle against Amandine Souin from Switzerland. Their match was incredibly close and the tennis lasted for over 45 minutes. Haurant won +3 (21-8 19-21 11-21 22-20). Eisler started well in their semi-final matchup, taking table tennis 21-11. Haurant bounced back taking badminton 21-13 before Eisler showed her strengths in squash, taking it 21-6, and then she only needed five points in tennis. She won tennis 5-1 and the overall score was +21 (21-11 13-21 21-6 5-1). This will be Eislers second final of the weekend, and maybe she can take two gold medals home. This is also Eisler’s first singles final in three years.

Women’s +50 and Girls U21 winners decided

Tomorrow will be finals day for all categories, except for the girls U21 and the women’s +50. In the girls U21 Chloé Billon beat fellow French player Maelys Maitrepierre +27 (21-15 21-10 21-11). Great to see so many girls in the U21 draw for this event! Katrin Maldre took the +50 title winning both her matches. It was a good final against Cécile Thévenon +19 (13-21 21-11 21-16 21-9) needing all points in tennis for the win.