Neither Caroline Garcia nor Diane Parry were able to bring down Emma Raducanu, whose ranking (302nd) in no way reflects the level she displayed this weekend at Portel (Pas-de-Calais). Friday, the 30-year-old Lyonnaise led 6-3, 2-0 but was swallowed up by the British wave to lose 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. On Saturday, the 21-year-old Parisian won the first set but not the next two (4-6, 6-1, 7-6 [1] in 2h52) in a high quality match.
With this defeat following that of Garcia on Friday and Clara Burel earlier in the day, France, beaten by Great Britain, will not play the final phase in Seville in November, but a play-off, the same month, to try to remain in the global group.
The first set, very competitive, was very good. At 4-4, Parry saved a break point before winning the set thanks to his usual weapons: variations on the forehand, played at different heights, as in the backhand, sliced and covered.
Trailing 5-2, Parry saved two match points, in vain
But the 49th in the world was broken at the start of the second set and without seeing her level completely drop, she made a few more mistakes. And like Friday, Raducanu gradually gained strength until she became completely unplayable at the end of the set: impactful on the forehand, hitting good areas, impressive in return and inspired by a few perfectly played drop shots.
The series of 14 points gleaned by the former world number 10 ended at the start of the third round, with Parry even making the entry break. But the winner of the 2021 US Open picked up in stride and resumed her march forward until obtaining a match ball, then another. And Parry broke, came back to 5-5 and even got two balls to serve for the match, saved by Raducanu, who, a few minutes later, was able to drop his racket for joy after an excellent tie-break. The player of the weekend was her.
