Depreeuw defies Paris heat to earn French Open qualification in three hour epic against Huynh-Lenhardt
Josephs through after three set win over Bollerman
France’s Clément Depreeuw and Britain’s Jack Josephs will both make their Open debuts, having secured qualification to the French Open in Paris on Friday. The autumn heat took a toll as both had to win through long three-set matches to get there.
Both rounds of qualifying took place on the same day, with the first round matches in the morning and the second round matches in the afternoon. Henry Henman was promoted out of the qualifying tournament because of the withdrawal of Louis Gordon. This promoted Baudouin Huynh-Lenhardt directly into the second round of qualifying to take Henman’s place.
The first qualifying match was between Oxford’s Nick Jamieson, and local Parisian lawn tennis player Clément Depreeuw. Depreeuw took advantage of the familiar court in the first set, with Jamieson struggling to find an effective pattern of serving as Depreeuw advanced to a 5/1 lead. Depreeuw’s attacking volleys worked well to rob Jamieson of time for reading the foreign court. Depreeuw served well to take the set. The second set started as the mid-morning sun shone into the Paris court. It saw the pressure mount on Jamieson, with more mistakes being forced out by Depreeuw’s calm rallying demeanour. Depreeuw pressed home this advantage to a comfortable win.
The afternoon matches were a sweaty affair, as the 30 degree heat setting in. The second match of the day saw an all-French derby between Bordeaux professional Baudouin Huynh-Lenhardt, and the morning victor, Depreeuw. The first set began with tight tennis as both players evenly exchanged the first five games. After the tight start, the first break fell to Depreeuw as he exhibited good control of the service end, while a nervy Huynh-Lendhardt started making uncharacteristic errors. The Bordeaux pro’s signature flamboyant style was not much help at this point against a technically sound Depreeuw. A long deuce exchange in favour of Huynh-Lendardt at 2/5 down saw him gain momentum and confidence from both ends of the court. Another tight game followed, before Huynh-Lendhardt unfortunately framed a deflection into his face to give Depreeuw his fourth set point from the hazard end. However, the Bordeaux pro regrouped himself quickly and fought the set back to 4/5 with a flurry of skillful grilles. He carried the momentum into the tenth game, bringing the set level at 5-all.
As the set crossed the hour mark, Depreeuw conceded a pair of easy chases at 15-0 but managed to win one and lose one. However, the next couple of points went to Huynh-Lenhdardt on the back of a few fortunate bounces, giving him his first set point. The quality of the tennis only got better from there, with Depreeuw laying a chase 3 with an excellent cut-volley. Serving to stay in the set, Huynh-Lendhardt had two attempts on target but his main wall force hit the bottom edge of bandeau, sending the game to deuce. Huynh-Lenhardt played good aggressive boasts on this point to bring up his second set point, before another main wall force into the bottom edge of the dedans gave him chase one and then the set.
Early in the second set, Depreeuw looked comfortable, quickly stretching out a 3/1 lead. Tighter tennis ensued, with both players hitting fabulous defensive volleys, and Huynh-Lenhardt finding plenty of main wall dedans to bring it back to 3-all. Depreeuw kept his cool in the seventh game, with Huynh-Lenhardt dumped more into the net than the dedans. Both players were desperate to hold the service end, leaving hazard chases and searching for the galleries. Depreeuw played well under pressure from the hazard end to stretch out a 5/3 lead after another lengthy deuce. Both players exited the court at the next change of ends for a showdown at the water cooler, followed by a collection of the balls as play slowed down to a crawl. The slower play seemed as though it would favour Huynh-Lenhardt; however, he wasn’t able to defend the set from the hazard end as Depreeuw levelled the match at 1-all.
The third set continued in the spirit of the first with every game up to three-all inclusive going to deuce, with the first game taking fifteen minutes alone. As per the previous sets, both players were desperate for the service end. Huynh-Lenhardt was hot and cold, played effective boasts while also making unforced errors. Both players opted for conservative service tactics. However, at the exact same point as the second set, Depreeuw left the court for more water, slowing the game down even further after two and a half hours of play. The gamesmanship had worked in the second set, but was to no avail in the third, with Huynh-Lenhardt serving a flush high serve at 40-0 up to bring the set back to 4/5 and service momentum. He continued this momentum to bring up another 5-all game before the pressure mounted, and Depreeuw sealed the deal on a near-three-hour three-setter.
In the third and final qualifying match, the Royal Tennis Court’s Jack Josephs took on Dutch champion Paul Bollerman. This match saw a significant change of pace from the previous, with the first six games resulting in 3-all in fifteen minutes. Aggression was the name of the game, with both players striking the ball well and hard. Both players opted for fast railroads as the serve of the match. Bollerman used Josephs’ fast railroads against him by forcing a volley to great effect, earning a 30-0 in the 5/4 game with two decent chases to play. Bollerman won both, taking the first set.
Josephs managed to find a rhythm at the start of the second, going 3/0 up as he struck with better consistency. At 40-0 down, Bollerman took a break. Tactic or not, he still lost the game, struggling down the receiver’s end and looking rather tired on the still baking Paris court. There was a late burst of momentum from Bollerman in the fifth game owing to some canny volleying at the net, denying Josephs the bagel. At the receiver’s end, he couldn’t replicate the same winning habits with Josephs, sending the match into a third set off an awkward Paris bounce.
The third set saw an obviously tiring Bollerman play hot and cold, as he hit winners as often as errors. Josephs was determined to finish the match quickly, dispatching loose balls left and right. Though Bollerman never looked defeated, once he was at 2/5 down at deuce the match was then too much to overcome. Josephs was able to secure his first Open main draw appearance.
The main draw will start on Sunday, with Saturday reserved as a practice day. Depreeuw will now face Benedict Yorston in the first round, while Josephs will play Steve Virgona.
Match results:
9:00 AM: Nick Jamieson lost to Clément Depreeuw 2/6 0/6
4:00 PM: Baudouin Huynh-Lenhardt lost to Clément Depreeuw 6/5 3/6 5/6
5:30 PM: Paul Bollerman lost to Jack Josephs 6/4 1/6 2/6
Order of play for Sunday (All times CEST):
11:00 AM: Benedict Yorston vs Clément Depreeuw (Q)
1:00 PM: Darren Long (6) vs Max Trueman
3:00 PM: Vaughan Hamilton vs Henry Henman
5:00 PM: Nicolas Victoir vs Lewis Williams (5)
Thanks Sammy for the accuracy!