Esku Pilota Roster
It consisted of four pairs:
Peio Larrald-Agusti Waltary
Julien Etchegaray-Thierry Harismendy
Mathieu Ospital-Peio Guchandut
Enaut Echeverria*-Baptiste Ducassou
* Not on Esku Pilota roster at this time.
The tournament had a couple of interesting "quirks." Waltary played in the back court, He is a long timer front court player who has one of the most lethal services in the sport, but for this tournament, he was a "supporting actor" for Larralde. On the other hand, Etchegaray, an accomplished front court player, is playing another tournament while this one took place. In the Challenge de Cize, a 50 point Tournament at Le Garat that has unfolded for the last month, Etchegaray is playing the back court with Gregory Aguirre. Outside of that this small tournament had a surfeit of excellent players. Larralde, Waltary, Ospital, Guichandu, and Ducassou have been among the top 10 Esku Pilota players for some time.
In the end the experiment worked well for L-W. They dominated the Tournament, outscoring their two opponents by 80-51.
Trinquet Haitz Pean, Anglet (1) (2)
FINAL
May 29, 2019
Ospital-Guichandut 23 (Pilota Ttiki condensed full match video)
Selected linescore (winners always listed first)
8-1; 10-5; 15-6; 20-6; 31-13; 31-21; 40-23
Partial scoring: Larralde 15 service aces Ospital 4
Match article, along with an audio interview with Larralde and video of the last few points (Esku Pilota)
Match article: (Pilota Ttiki)
Waltary is the man with the devastating serve. But he played an excellent supporting role in this tournament. In the May 29 Final, Larralde had 15 service aces and Waltary played solid defense, more than holding his own against Peio Guichandut, for an easy 40-23 win. 7 of their first 10 points were Larralde aces. Guichandut was slightly "off color" for the entire tournament, suffering with a sore hand. If you watch closely you can see that it was bothering him. To have a sore hand battered by Larralde rockets can't be much fun. And a strategy (according to the PT match article) that demanded keeping the pelota away from Larralde as much as possible couldn't have helped. Later in the match Ospital found a bit of a weakness in Waltary's service return, but it was far too little and much too late.
Lever de Rideau (curtain raiser--friendly)
*=Not on Esku Pilota Roster
(Pilota Ttiki condensed full match video)
Semi-finals
May 24, 2019
* Not on Esku Pilota roster at present
P. Larralde-Waltary 40 Etchegaray-Harismendy 28 (Pilota Ttiki condensed full match video)
Selected linescore (winners always listed first) (Esku Pilota)
2-2; 3-3; 5-5; 8-8; 19-16; 30-16; 39-21; 39-28; 40-28
The grand experiment (for both teams) looked extremely intriguing through the first half. But then L-W blew the match open with an 11-0 run, which more than negated E-H's valiant but futile 7-0 run at the end.
Ospital-Guichandut 40 Etcheverria*-Ducassou 29 (Pilota Ttiki condensed full match video)
Selected linescore (winners always listed first) (Esku Pilota)
3-10; 13-13; 16-15; 21-20; 22-21; 22-22; 22-23; 23-23; 40-29
Partial scoring:
Ospital 10 service aces Echeverria 8
Ducassou had played a 1 v 2 match the week before this tournament began, and he might have thought he was in another, but his team got off to a great start. Then they came back to earth as O-G caught them with a 10-3 run. Still E-E stayed in contention until almost the middle of the 3rd decade. At that point, Echeverria's inexperience began to be exploited (according to the match articles) and the result was a 17-6 run and easy victory for O-G. But overall, Echeverria played well and almost matched Ospital ace for ace. Echeverria also had a good match in the Tournois D'Itxassou, although his team lost that match as well. Hopefully we will see more of him in the future.
Ducassou had played a 1 v 2 match the week before this tournament began, and he might have thought he was in another, but his team got off to a great start. Then they came back to earth as O-G caught them with a 10-3 run. Still E-E stayed in contention until almost the middle of the 3rd decade. At that point, Echeverria's inexperience began to be exploited (according to the match articles) and the result was a 17-6 run and easy victory for O-G. But overall, Echeverria played well and almost matched Ospital ace for ace. Echeverria also had a good match in the Tournois D'Itxassou, although his team lost that match as well. Hopefully we will see more of him in the future.
Match article for both matches (Pilota Ttiki)
