French Nationals: Top Seeds Storm Into Semis

It was plain sailing for the seeded players at the French Nationals as the likes of Gregoire Marche and Camille Serme booked their semi-final spots at Bordeaux’s Squash Bad 33 club yesterday.

Marche, a former Nationals champion in 2014, came through a banana skin quarter-final fixture with the talented Victor Crouin, completing a straightforward win by an 11-7 11-6 11-9 margin.

Marche will line up against defending champion Lucas Serme for a place in the title decider. Creteil-born Serme was in fine form to see off Manuel Paquemar in straight games. Paquemar was the only unseeded player to reach the quarter-finals after his win over No.8 seed Johan Bouquet in the previous round.

Meanwhile, Mathieu Castagnet and Baptiste Masotti will face off in the other semi-final following respective wins over Edwin Clain and Toufik Mekhalfi to complete a clean sweep of 3-0 score-lines in the men’s event.

Top seed and 11-time French Nationals champion Camille Serme booked her spot in the semi-finals of the women’s event courtesy of a straight games victory Elise Romba.

Her last four opponent will be No.4 seed Ambre Allinckx, who overcame Lea Barbeau by the same margin.

France’s Melissa Alves was the only victor to drop a game as she beat Marie Stephan by a 3-1 scoreline, while Enora Villard will be her semi-final opponent after getting the better of Ninon Lemarchand 3-0.

The French Squash Federation are streaming the Nationals on their YouTube channel – tune in here from 14:00 GMT.

Results – Quarter-Finals: Men’s 2021 French Nationals
[1] Gregoire Marche bt [5] Victor Crouin 3-0: 11-7 11-6 11-9
[4] Lucas Serme bt Manuel Paquemar 3-0: 11-7 11-2 11-2
[3] Baptiste Masotti bt [6] Edwin Clain 3-0: 11-5 11-6 11-6
[2] Mathieu Castagnet bt [7] Toufik Mekhalfi 3-0: 11-8 11-6 11-7

Draw – Semi-Finals
[1] Gregoire Marche v [4] Lucas Serme
[3] Baptiste Masotti v [2] Mathieu Castagnet

Results – Quarter-Finals: Women’s 2021 French Nationals
[1] Camille Serme bt [6] Elise Romba 3-0: 11-1 11-4 11-6
[4] Ambre Allinckx bt [7] Lea Barbeau 3-0: 12-10 11-5 11-3
[3] Enora Villard bt [8] Ninon Lemarchand 3-0: 11-1 11-3 11-4
[2] Melissa Alves bt [5] Marie Stephan 3-1: 11-3 7-11 11-3 11-1

Draw – Semi-Finals
[1] Camille Serme v [4] Ambre Allinckx
[3] Enora Villard v [2] Melissa Alves