Pridmore beats Vallat for British U26 title
France U26's lost to Rest of the World on youth team debut
Oliver Pridmore has thrown down the gauntlet for Team Australia ahead of the Van Alen, Clothier and George Limb trophies, defeating Britain’s Bertie Vallat in three sets in the final of the British U26’s Invitational at Seacourt on Sunday. Afterwards, France made their youth team debut, falling to a Rest of the World team winning just one rubber out of four.
Earlier, Oliver Pridmore and Bertie Vallat took to the court for the final of the British U26’s Invitational. Both entered the match as the top seeds, with identical handicaps to their name, but with contrasting styles and philosophies. Pridmore approached the match in a freewheeling style, heavily attacking all three openings on the court. Vallat, not content with cleaning up Pridmore’s misses as per his usual style, played positive and aggressive shots into the corners. Through the first set, the balance of play favoured the Brit, capitalizing on the errors made by his opponent.
However, Pridmore was not fazed by dropping the first set, making the small adjustments needed to reduce his mistakes while maintaining his excellent finishes. Vallat’s play became more passive, responding to Pridmore’s play rather than dictating it. Early in the second set, an early applause for a ball that hit the bandeau of the grille seemed to rile him up, throwing a death glare back at the dedans mid-rally. From then on, his confidence entered a negative spiral, including receiving a warning for foul language from the marker. Pridmore, meanwhile, was calm and calculated, with a particular penchant for hitting the winning gallery from open balls in the middle of the court. He won 10 of the last 12 games of the match securing the title and cementing his position as the favourite for the first string George Limb match to follow later in the week.
The France vs Rest of the World fixture was the first time that France had entered a youth team, with their opponents drawn from the reserve and lower string players from the other three squads. The tie began with the first string singles between Florent Brethon and Max Warner. It was a rematch of the British U26’s Invitational first round, played two days prior, where Brethon emerged the victor after a tight first set. Warner played like he had a point to prove through the first set, clearly having taken on board the lessons from the previous encounter as he applied himself to the challenge. His shots were clean and deliberate as he won the first set without dropping a game.
Brethon kicked into gear at the start of the second set, with the change in intensity catching Warner off guard. The Frenchman strung together a few quick games, adding to the pressure on Warner’s game, which led to a few technical errors creeping back into his game. But Warner was able to reset, fighting to turn back the tide of the match late on in the second set. Brethon’s lead by that point was already too large, but Warner carried on his form into the third. Although the play was the best quality of the match to date, Warner was able to snowball a lead as his retrieving got better and better. Brethon clearly knew the game was up towards the end, with Warner registering the first win for the Rest of the World.
The Rest of the World then went 2-0 up courtesy of Sammy Legg defeating France’s Elliott Watkins. Legg had to work hard to deal with Watkins’ unconventional shot choices, putting him out of position when trying to play his textbook style. Though Legg was often unable to produce clean winners, he was able to play shots that kept asking questions of Watkins, eventually forcing an error. Watkins was able to string together a few brilliant shots to earn a couple of games in each set, but not enough to challenge for the match.
The Rest of the World secured victory in the third rubber between Xavier Thouzeau and Ben Dickinson. Dickinson led the match from start to finish, as Thouzeau was unable to pick apart his opponent’s defences. Thouzeau only managed three games in the match despite competitive rallies, though Dickinson’s grille hitting was a highlight.
Despite being a dead rubber, the closest match of the fixture was the final one between France’s Theo Besnard and the Rest of the World’s Dawson Chisholm. It was a hard-fought scrap as both players played at their limit trying to find an advantage over the other. Every point was a battle, with the play descending into a brawl for every point, game and set. Both of the first two sets featured deciding games, with Chisholm seeing a match point in the second but was unable to convert. Eventually, Besnard proved to have the stronger legs, outlasting Chisholm and breaking away at the end of the third set, winning France’s first victory at the Under 26 team level.
Match results:
British U26’s Invitational:
Final: Oliver Pridmore (1) def Bertie Vallat (2) 2/6 6/2 6/1
France lost to Rest of the World 1-3:
1st singles: Florent Brethon (FRA) lost to Max Warner (ROW/GB) 0/6 6/4 6/1
2nd singles: Elliott Watkins (FRA) lost to Sammy Legg (ROW/AUS) 2/6 2/6
3rd singles: Xavier Thouzeau (FRA) lost to Ben Dickinson (ROW/USA) 2/6 1/6
4th singles: Theo Besnard (FRA) def Dawson Chisholm (ROW/USA) 5/6 6/5 6/2
Order of play for Monday (all times BST):
Limb Trophy (GB vs Australia)
10:00 AM (4th singles): Ned Batstone (GB) vs Alex Rackham (AUS)
11:30 AM (3rd singles): Will Flynn (GB) vs Darcy Webster-Jones (AUS)
1:00 PM (2nd singles): Benedict Yorston (GB) vs Nick Stenning (AUS)
2:30 PM (1st singles): Bertie Vallat (GB) vs Oliver Pridmore (AUS)
Remaining matches:
7-8 July: Limb Trophy (Australia vs UK)
9-10 July: Clothier Cup (USA vs Australia)
11-12 July: Van Alen Cup (UK vs USA)