Tennis, Engie Open du Périgord (first round): The tone rose a notch on the courts of Périgueux

This Wednesday, you couldn't be late for the Alves-Bougouffa match. The 21-year-old Frenchwoman fell to the Brazilian, the number one seed, who held her own perfectly: 6-0, 6-0 and 1 hour and 1 minute of play, not enough time to catch a heatstroke on the Périgord courts bathed in scorching sunshine.

Rezaï gives up

And Alves isn't the only one to have made short work of her opponent. Poland's Ewald quickly defeated her German opponent, Hodzic, to advance to the second round (6-3, 6-2). Among the crushing victories, and this is one of the good news of the day, we find Mathilde Lollia, the Frenchwoman who defeated Poland's Falkowska, rather easily (6-3, 6-0). And it must be noted, Lollia isn't the only Frenchwoman to have qualified. If Tuesday, the French women drew a blank with fourteen eliminated out of fourteen to play, this Wednesday, it's a little better with ten in the running and three advancing to the next round.

This was the case for Chloé Noel, who faced her compatriot Yara Bartashevich (6-1, 6-2). A fairly straightforward victory for Noel, who earned herself a nice gift: an extra round. Astrid Lew Yan Foon asked for nothing less. At 19, the Frenchwoman showed composure against Aravane Rezaï in the second French-French match. She quickly led 6-1 and then saw her opponent retire. Indeed, Rezaï, who was making her comeback at 38, complained of neck pain and was unable to continue. Not even an hour of play and inevitably a lot of disappointment for this former great French player.

Hesse and Mattel in the trap

The other French players were less fortunate, starting with Amandine Hesse, who faced Moroccan Yasmine Kabbaj. Despite being the number 7 seed, Hesse, who had already been to Périgueux, started well by winning the first game (7-5). But then, the two players played evenly, with each side showing signs of failure and a bit of nerves. Kabbaj won the second game (7-6). In the third, Amandine Hesse completely broke down and retired. Battesti struggled against the more powerful Ukrainian Kotliar (6-3, 6-3), while Marie Mattel fought to the end in a match that lasted more than 2 hours.

Initially trailing quickly due to numerous double faults, Mattel recovered in the second game. But the effort put in got the better of the Frenchwoman, who quickly capitulated (6-2, in the last game for the Swiss). Faced with the Chinese, seeded number 3, Juliette Trunet also lowered her flag.

Finally, Spain's Irene Burillo had to battle it out against Romania's Maria Popa. In the sweltering heat, the two players struggled to break the deadlock. They even dragged out the match, cooling off with ice cubes several times, and Burillo even changed her top. But, encouraged by her compatriots, the Spaniard won in three sets (6-3, 2-6, 6-3), confirming her position as the number one seed.

Note that in the doubles, the French-Canadian pair Mattel/Abanda won against Poland's Ewald and France's Alice Robbe. And then, Yana Mykytyn, the only Boulazac player still in the running, partnered with France's Emma Aucagne, has definitively said goodbye to the tournament.