Camille Serme and Gregoire Marche are the 2021 French Nationals champions after beating Melissa Alves and Mathieu Castagnet, respectively, yesterday at Bordeaux’s Squash Bad 33.
Serme’s victory was a record-breaking triumph that sees her become the first woman to win 12 French Nationals titles after previously sharing the record with Isabelle Stoehr and Corinne Castets.
The World No.3 fell to a shock 11-1 defeat in the opening game as Alves, the World No.31 who lost to Serme in last year’s final, came out all guns blazing and outplayed her compatriot.
Alves held a 6-3 lead in the second too before ultimately coming unstuck as the experienced Serme equalised after taking it 14-12 on the tiebreak. In the third and fourth games, Serme held her opponent at arm’s length to complete a 1-11, 14-12, 11-6, 11-6 victory in 50 minutes.
In the men’s final, the opening game proved crucial as Marche claimed an 11-9 victory over Castagnet. It was a tight affair with some well-constructed rallies. But Castagnet was unable to reel his opponent back in as Marche went on to record an 11-9, 11-3, 11-4 triumph which sees him crowned French Nationals champion for the third time.
In the bronze medal matches, Baptiste Masotti won the men’s fixture after beating defending champion Lucas Serme in five games, while Enora Villard got a walkover over Ambre Allinckx.
Results – Final: Men’s 2021 French Nationals
[1] Grégoire Marche bt [2] Mathieu Castagnet 3-0: 11-9, 11-3, 11-4 (53m)
Results – Third-Place Playoff: Men’s 2021 French Nationals
[4] Baptiste Masotti bt [3] Lucas Serme 3-2: 12-10, 3-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-7
Results – Final: Women’s 2021 French Nationals
[1] Camille Serme bt [2] Mélissa Alves 3-1: 1-11, 14-12, 11-6, 11-6
Results – Third-Place Playoff: Women’s 2021 French Nationals
[3] Énora Villard bt [4] Ambre Allinckx w/o