The Players:
Player Profiles at Esku Pilota
Group A: Peio Larralde (front); Matthieu Ospital (front); Baptiste Ducassou (back); Bixinto Bilbao (back); Augusti Waltery (front); Ximun Lambert (back); Peio Guichandut (back); Vincent Elgart (front); Julien Etchegary (front); Ion Iturbe (back); and Anton Monce (front)
Last year's finalists: Larralde and Ospital have been directly seeded into the League phase (1st and 2nd seeds)
Group B: Pascal de Ezcurra (back); Laurent Lambert (front); Alexis Inchauspe (front); Mickael Palomes (back); Gregory Aguirre (front); Cedric Lucu (back); Bixente (Vincent) Cubiat (back); Mattin Olcomendy (front); Mickael Darmendrail (front)
de Ezcurra and Lambert have been directly seeded into the League phase (1st and 2nd seeds)
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Complete coverage of the 2018 Championship was provided by FFPB:
Results
Brief Match Articles and Photos
More detailed articles and selected match videos were provided by Pilota Ttiki. When videos are available they are linked at the bottom of the article.
Beginning January 9 and "suivant" at the bottom of the article until you reach other tournament articles. The tournament ended on February 25 (A) and February 27 (B) (Note that not all articles you will link to are articles about this tournament).
Twenty 2018 FFPB Championnat de France Elite Pro condensed full match videos are available via Pilota Ttiki Youtube. Scroll to or find "Championnat Individuel" or "Liguilla" (without the quotes).
Finals:
Group A: Larralde 40 Ospital 18
Match article and link to full match video
Group B: Iturbe 40 L. Lambert 27
Match article and link to full match video
2017 Tournament complete coverage (match articles and available videos)
Finals:
Group A: Ducassou 40 Ospital 27
Group B: Etchegaray 40 Elgart 21
2016 Full Tournament Results: Final: Larralde 40 Ducassou 22
2015 Full Tournament Results: Final Ducassou 40 Larralde 21 (pelotelive.free.fr)
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Play in Round (January 4-7, 2019) Qualification Round Seeded Matches (January 12-14); January 19; January 26
Liguilla: February 2; February 3; February 9; February 11; February 15, February 17
Finals: February 25--Group B; March 3--Group A
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Note: All match videos, unless otherwise specifically stated, are condensed full match videos (usually between 15 and 40 minutes).
January 26, 2019
Arcangues (1)(2)
Group A
Note that both matches, originally scheduled for January 25, were delayed by a day due to condensation on the court.
Bilbao (back) (seeded in) 40 Waltery (front) 34 (Pilota Ttiki Youtube)
Selected linescore (winner always listed first)
1-6; 6-11; 11-11; 12-11; 16-11; 18-18; 18-28; 27-28; 30-30; 31-31; 39-32; 39-34; 40-34
In a see-saw match where the momentum distinctly changed four times, an 8-1 run by Bilbao at the end was the difference as he moved on to the Liguilla stage. Earlier he had been behind by as many as 10 after a 10-0 run by Waltery. But Bilbao immediately followed with his own 9-0 streak to set the match up going into the final decade. A crucial point was the 28-30--29-30 point where Waltery faulted, blunting the momentum he was trying to establish. Both players were overpowering at times. Bilbao was at the most important time.
Group A: Back 2-1; Front 1-2
Ducassou (seeded in) (back) 40 X. Lambert (back) 16 (Pilota Ttiki Youtube)
Selected linescore (winner always listed first)
2-2; 11-6; 17-6; 40-16.
Lambert said last week that the match against Ducassou would be "complicated" and so it was. After equality at 2 Ducassou buried his rival under a 38-14 avalanche, announcing to one and all that, after missing out on last year's festivities, being unable to defend his 2017 Championship due to injury, he was definitely available this year. In the form he is in going into the Liguilla stage, (having won the Super Prestige singles tournament, outscoring his three opponents 120-71, and his last 4 singles matches 160-87) he will be a tough assignment for anyone.
Selected linescore (winner always listed first)
2-2; 11-6; 17-6; 40-16.
Lambert said last week that the match against Ducassou would be "complicated" and so it was. After equality at 2 Ducassou buried his rival under a 38-14 avalanche, announcing to one and all that, after missing out on last year's festivities, being unable to defend his 2017 Championship due to injury, he was definitely available this year. In the form he is in going into the Liguilla stage, (having won the Super Prestige singles tournament, outscoring his three opponents 120-71, and his last 4 singles matches 160-87) he will be a tough assignment for anyone.
Preview: interview with Agusti Waltery (Pilota Ttiki)
Preview: interview with Bixento Bilbao (Pilota Ttiki)
Preview: Interview with Ximun Lambert (Pilota Ttiki
Preview: Interview with Baptiste Ducassou (Pilota Ttiki)
Match article for both matches (Pilota Ttiki)
Match article for both matches (FFPB)
For the Tournament in Front Court v Back Court matches the score is Back 3 Front 1.
With these two matches, the qualification round ended leaving the top four players in Group A:
Larralde (front) (seeded in at #1); Ospital (front) (seeded in at #2); Ducassou (back) #3; and Bilbao (back) # 4.
Group B: de Ezcurra (front) (seeded in at #1). L. Lambert (front) seeded in at #2); Inchauspe (front) #3; and Palomes (back) #4
1st round Liguilla matches:
February 2, 2019
Hasparren
Group A: Larralde v Bilbao
Group B: de Ezcurra v Palomes
February 3, 2019
St. Pee sur Nivelle
Group A: Ospital v Ducassou
Group B: L. Lambert v Inchauspe
