Tennis: The great performance of the Belgian Marie Benoit, the massacre on the French side at the Montpellier International Open

Marie Benoit eliminated the number 1 seed. Free Midi – LF

There are no longer any French women involved in Grabels where the quarter-finals of the singles tournament and the doubles final are taking place this Friday.

This Thursday, the sun beat down hard on the clay courts of the ASCH in Grabels in the north of Montpellier. In total, 10 matches of the International Women's Open were played.

Belgian sensation Marie Benoit

With 15 titles on the ITF circuit, Marie Benoît (29 years old) is not at her first attempt. When leaving the field, after eliminating without any problem the Latvian Darja Semenistaja (108th in the WTA ranking), seed number 1 (6-3, 6-2), she was not in the lead. ;euphoria: "At this level, all the players are strong, explained the Belgian, 227th player in the world. You have to try to be consistent and fight every day."

Marie Benoit was nevertheless satisfied with her performance of the day on center court: "The score is rather good, she analyzed. I put in the effort and the heart, that’s what allowed me to have a good match."

Qualified for the next round, the Belgian player took advantage of an exceptional setting that she particularly appreciates: “I've been here before and I love the sound of cycads. We don't have that back home, it's a change of scenery,” she laughed.

The massacre on the French side

In the singles draw, there were still four of them but no French player managed to get past the round of 16. Alicé Ramé (413th) was swept aside by the Japanese Sara Saito (169th), 6-3, 6-0. On the same score, Emma Léné (476th) was eliminated from the tournament by the Polish Maja Chwalinska (241st): “It was complicated, my opponent was better than me today”, she estimated.

For her part, Audrey Albié (302nd) resisted against the Lithuanian Mikuskyte by equalizing a set everywhere (6-3, 4-6) but had to give up in the third, 6-4: & quot;I was having a bad day in terms of feelings, I didn't know how to lead my boat and she played very well,' analyzed the 29-year-old player. At the end of the program, the Spaniard Parrizas-Diaz took out the last tricolor Carole Monnet in two sets (6-3, 6-4).

The doubles final this Friday

The semi-finals of the doubles tournament took place on Thursday. There too, the French were not at the party since the pair composed of Amandine Hesse and Séléna Janicijevic suffered the law of the Russian duo Ekaterina Yashina and Elena Pridankina (6-4, 6-4). They will meet the Croatian Mariana Drazic and the Belarusian Iryna Shymanovich in the final, this Friday from 6 p.m.

Results and program

Thursday's results.
Singles (8th final): Selekhmeteva (RUS) beats Ciric Bagaric (CRO) 6-3, 6-7, 6-4; Serban (CYP) beats Pigossi (BRE) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2; Teichmann (SUI) defeats Pridankina (RUS) 6-3, 6-2; Mikuskyte (LTU) beats Albié (FRA) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Saito (JAP) beats Ram&eac; (FRA) 6-3, 6-0; Benoit (BEL) beats Semenistaja (LET) 6-3, 6-2; Chwalinska (POL) beats Léné (FRA) 6-3, 6-0; Parrizas-Diaz (ESP) beats Monnet (FRA) 6-3, 6-4.
Doubles (semi-finals): Drazic-Shymanovich beat Ibbou-Nahimana 7-6, 6-1; Pridankina – Yashina defeat Hesse – Janicijevic 6-4, 6-4.

Friday program
Singles (quarter-finals): Benoit (BEL) – Selekhmeteva (RUS), Saito (JAP) – Serban (CYP), Chwalinska (POL) – Mikulskyte (LIT).
Doubles (final): Pridankina-Yashina – Drazic-Shymanovich.

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