Cape Town, South Africa – The M40 teams from France and Spain wielded the whitewash brush to good effect as they ground out semifinal wins on Wednesday at the 37th edition of the ITF Young Seniors World Team Championships in Cape Town, South Africa.
The third-seeded Spain upset the form book when they defeated second-seeded Netherlands 3-0 at the Western Province Cricket Club courts.
Top seeds France despatched European neighbours Germany, the fourth seeds, 2-0. The teams did not play doubles in this tie.
Spanish No 2 Jonathan Garcia set the ball rolling against Dutch opponent Dennis Bank with a 6-2 6-1 victory.
Garcia was given a fright at the start when he was left trailing 0-2 but he showed great presence of mind as he staged a gallant fightback.
“I was far too tense at the start but once I settled down it went well for me,” Garcia said afterwards. “Maybe it was a good thing that I went behind because it helped to set me on a roll.
“In the second set I went up 4-0 but it was hard work as there were many rallies. One thing that helped in the second set was that I was solid and hardly made mistakes.
“The match lasted just over two hours and the hot weather made it difficult to play.”
Xavier Audouy showed the way for France in their opening singles rubber against Germany with a 6-2 6-0 win over on Ron Rohrig.
Audouy gained the measure of his opponent early in the first set and then never relinquished his grip on the match.
“At 2-all I broke serve and that seemed to set him back. Up to that stage, we had long rallies and there wasn’t much between the two of us.
“Once I managed the break, I started to get a good feel for the conditions and I kept the ball deep.
“I also decided the hit the ball early and then applied pressure.
“I also tried to speed up the game in the second set and my confidence grew as the set wore on. Physically I was feeling good because I love the hot conditions.
“It seemed as if Rohrig was battling with the conditions.”
Over at Rondebosch, the W45 teams from Spain (1) and South Africa (6) scored 2-1 semifinal wins.
South Africa upset second-seeded France when they won the doubles after each had claimed a singles win.
France’s Marine Arassus-Texier provided her team with a 1-0 lead after she edged South Africa’s Lettica Venter 7-6 (4) 6-1.
In the first set, Arassus-Texier found herself trailing 5-3 and then after warding off a set point she maintained a vice-like grip on proceedings to secure a 7-4 tiebreak win.
“Once I worked my way back to 4-5 I started making fewer mistakes. I started relying more and more on my backhand and things started working out better for me.
“She (Venter) offered a lot of fight at the start of the second set but by then I had worked out her game. I had no problem finding tactics to close out the game in the end.”
However, the French failed to reckon with the resolve in the ranks of the South Africans who managed to draw level when their No 1 Jacqueline Booth won 6-1 6-0 against Virginie Buisson in the next singles match.
Booth was up for the fight again in the deciding doubles with teammate Venter and they clinched the tie with a 6-2 6-0 win over Buisson and Elisabeth Tourreau.
The Pinelands venue also produced an upset as France’s W40 team, the No 3 seeds, toppled No 2 seeds Great Britain 2-1.
The French will go on to play the final against top seeds Spain, who edged home 2-1 against fourth-seeded Netherlands.
The M45 semifinal action at Green Point went according to form as top seeds France and Germany (No 5 seeds) won through to the finals against The Netherlands, the fourth seeds, and unfancied Australia, respectively.
At Kelvin Grove courts, both semifinals yielded upset results.
First, Spain, the top seeds, crashed 2-1 to Great Britain, the No 4 seeds, after a titanic battle which saw two of the matches stretched to three sets.
Later on, France’s Steeve Noblecourt and Marc Steger cantered to straight-set wins over their Dutch opponents.
After France (No 3 seeds) enjoyed a 2-0 lead against The Netherlands (No 2 seeds), the doubles match was not played.