Main Nue--FFPB Championnat de France Pro Individuel--Group A Final--March 3, 2019

The 2019 FFPB (Federation Francais de Pelote Basque) Championnat de France Pro Individuel Tournament began on January 4, and ended on March 3, 2019. For the third consecutive year, there were two competitions,  Group A and Group B. 21 players were involved. FFPB provided a "dossier" (.pdf format, 7p.) explaining how the tournament worked and who the players in each group were. This is a seeded ladder knock out tournament with qualification and league rounds, leading to the final.

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 were 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 were directly seeded into the League phase (1st and 2nd seeds)
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Previous Championships:

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)
2013: Full Tournament Results: Waltary 40 De Ezcurra 33; Final match article (FFPB) (Added this and 2008-2012 on March 13, 2019) (full coverage from Manista.com)
2012: Waltary 40 Ocafrain 28 (Match article--Sud Ouest via manista.com) Full tournament coverge (via manista.com)
2011: Waltary 
2010: Waltary
2009: Waltary
2008: Waltary Source for 2008-2013: FFPB 2013 Final match article above

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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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March 3, 2019

FINAL

Group A

Trinquet Berria, Hasparren--Trinquet (old and new) (1) (2) Hasparren

Ducassou (#3) (front) 40 Ospital (#2) Front 28 (Pilota Ttiki Youtube condensed full match video)

Selected linescore (winner always listed first) Sources: Naiz, Pilota Ttiki, and FFPB

1-6; 7-7; 9-9; 10-10; 12-12; 13-12; 14-12; 17-16; 18-16; 18-18; 19-19; 40-28

For full, enhanced linescore (server, balls in play, score, winner or error, comments) see below. 

Decades: 3-7; 10-10; 16-14; 21-19; 27-23; 35-25

Equal scores: 1; 7; 9; 10; 12; 18; 19 (7)

Lead changes: 4

Full scoring: (My judgments, yours may be different--my scoring is subjective and I am no expert at Main Nue scoring, but I will leave it for you to judge below--any feedback will be gladly accepted, since I know there are observers with far more experience than I have, and I can learn much from that experience. I will say this. I tend to favor winners, partly because  a + makes 2 players happy, a - makes 2 players angry :) ). 

Ducassou (arriere-back) +35 (including 9 service aces) -3 (including 1 service fault)
Ospital (avant-front +25 (6a) -5

Direct points (xare, pumpa xare, balls hit into the back dugout)

Ducassou 9; Ospital 4

Balls in play: 401. Time of match: about 1 hour and 7 minutes (Trinquet Barria Clock) Actual playing time: about 25 minutes 5 seconds (length of the video)

Balls in play--Number of points

1-9--55

10-19--10

20+ 3

Longest point: 24 (7-7--8-7)

Match article (Naiz--Basque)

Match article (Pilota Ttiki)

Match article (FFPB)

35 photos (FFPB)

Baptiste Ducassou cemented his place (for now, anyway), in my opinion, as the best Main Nue player in the world. This was his 3rd CdF Individuel Championship. It was also his 3rd consecutive singles championship: He won the (World Championship Gold Medal (Barcelona)--Toute sur la Pelote Basque Youtube) in October 2018. He also won the Super Prestige (Pilota Ttiki Youtube) Tournament in December, against Ospital. None of these matches were remotely close, although this latest victory was close for a while.

Ducassou is a back court player with a front court mentality. He is everywhere, all the time. He is fast, powerful, accurate with direct points, the best defensive player off the back foot I have seen, and has a burning desire to play the game as well as it can be played. I have been watching him for 4 years and he keeps improving. He can, of course, be beaten, as the competition on the Professional Main Nue circuit is fierce. But other players know they must bring their "A" game to the trinquet in order to do so. If you want to see what makes Ducassou so good, watch the final point of this match. First he saves Ospital's serve with a rebote (rebound shot) off the low right back wall. Then he runs all the way to the front, diving to save the dejada (short, soft shot) that Ospital wanted to put in the xilo box in order to get an unpredictable ricochet. He missed the box, a fatal mistake.  Not only did Ducassou save the point, but he won the point with an overhead pass to the left.

The first half of the match was very competitive. In the first decade, Ospital made three beautiful direct points, a service ace, and a bevel shot. He made the shots from deep on the court, long accurate "touch" shots that show Ospital at his best. When he is on, he makes these very difficult shots look easy. At 1-6 he had his biggest lead and was brimming with confidence. By the end of the second decade the score was tied at 10. It stayed close until the end of the 4th decade (21-19). Then Ducassou began to dominate. The 5th decade added 2 points to his lead (27-23). In the 6th decade he won the match, with 7 winners (including 3 aces and 3 direct points). At 35-25 Ospital was finished. A few minutes later, Ducassou had the championship he was unable to defend last year because of an injury.

Interestingly, these two players will now join forces in the upcoming CdF Pro par Equipes (pairs) Championship. Their first match is March 11 at Le Garate. It will be interesting to see how they fare. I, for one, wouldn't bet against them.

My accounting of the match is presented below, point by point, for your entertainment. Hopefully I have gotten it right. Again, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Key: Server, number of balls in play, score (winner always listed first), player name + (winner) or - (error) (+a=service ace, -f=service fault), commentary.

For American readers who may not be familiar with the terminology

Dejada=soft and usually short shot

Cortada=hard sidearm shot

Pass=passing shot

Xare=shot which goes into the side dugout mesh on the fly--Direct Point
Pumpa Xare=shot which goes into the side mesh on the bounce--Direct Point
Back Dugout--Direct Point

Buruzgain=overhead shot.

Quads=demarcations made by the posts that hold the mesh in front of the side dugout

Bevel=front right corner is beveled rather than a 90 degree angle. Hitting the bevel causes unpredictable ricochets

Chapa=(metal line on the front wall that the pelota must hit above, It makes a very distinct sound when hit, precluding any difficult judgement call as to whether the shot was good or not
Rebote=rebound shot off the back wall (Partial Source (Pilota Ttiki))

Ducassou (red); Ospital (black)

Ducassou wins the coin toss and serves

Decade 1:

D, 1, 1-0; D+a (left side)
D, 6, 1-1; O+ (Pumpa Xare from far back left)
O, 3, 1-2; O+ (Pumpa Xare 2 wall--right-front--from behind the fault line)
O, 1, 1-3; O+a (deep right)
O, 13, 1-4; O+ (Pumpa Xare 2 wall--right-front--from the 5th quad, left side)
O, 1, 1-5; O+a (low left)
O, 9, 1-6; O+ (Bevel 90 degrees to the low left from the fault line (red post)
D, 4, 2-6; D+ (Dugout roof pass)
D, 7, 3-6; D+ (3 wall--right-front-low left--from the fault line)
D, 4, 3-7; O+ (left wall, D swings and misses)

49 balls in play; D+3 -0; O +7 (including 2 aces) -0 Direct points D 0; O 3 


Decade 2

O, 6, 4-7; D+ (Pumpa Xare 2nd quad, from the fault line)
D, 1, 5-7; D+a (high deep 2 wall--front-right)
D, 13, 6-7; O- (low right, hits chapa) 
D, 3, 7-7; D+ (Dugout roof pass)
D, 24, 7-8; O+ (3 wall--right-front-low left--from fault line)
O, 3, 7-9; O+ (3 wall from fault line)
O, 12, 8-9; D+ (Pumpa Xare, from 3rd quad left to 4th quad)
D, 3, 9-9; O- (misses two wall)
D, 6, 9-10; O+ overhead left pass (Buruzgain?) after a great save by D)
O, 2, 10-10; D+ (deep left wall return of service)

73 bip; D +5 (1a) -0; O +3 -2 DP: D 2; O 0 

Decade 3

D, 6, 10-11; O+ (underhand dejada along left wall--from 3rd quad)
O, 3, 10-12; O+ (Pumpa Xare 2 walls--right-front from 5th quad left to 1st quad)
O, 4, 11-12; D+ (hard straight pass, O gets to it on the back foot, but can't return)
D, 7, 12-12;  D+ (Bevel 2 wall--low left wall)
D, 1, 13-12; D+a (low left off the back wall)
D, 15, 14-12; D+ (high and deep, O can't return)
D, 10, 14-13; O+ (returns a great Bevel carom--left side pass)
O, 4, 15-13; D+ (?)
D, 7, 16-13; O- (missed low left)
D, 20, 16-14; O+ (2 wall--right-front or Bevel)

77 bip; D +5 (1a) -0; O +4 -1; DP D 0; O 1

Decade 4

O, 8, 17-14; D+ (Xare, 2nd quad left to 2nd quad)
D, 4, 17-15; O+ (Xilo or Bevel, difficult to tell as Juge Arbitre blocks view)
O, 1, 17-16; O+a (High carom off glass, turns D around)
O, 8, 18-16; D+ (D great save then right pass)
D, 6, 18-17; D- (misses high bounce return)
O, 3, 18-18; O+ (O great diving save and low 2 wall--right-front)
O, 1, 18-19; O+a (action replay of 17-16 above--not sure if it went in back dugout)
O, 6, 19-19; D+ (Xare--3rd quad right to 3rd quad)
D, 3, 20-19; D+ (2 wall--front-low left-from 5th quad left)
D, 1, 21-19; D+a (low left)

41 bip; D +5 (2a) -1; O +4 (2a) -0; DP: D 2 O 0 (? on 18-19)

Decade 5

D, 1, 21-20; (D-f) (low into the inside of fault post--EITB counts faults as 1 bip)
O, 16, 22-20; D+ (Xare--2nd quad left to 1st quad)
D, 1, 23-20; D+a (right back wall, O can't reach wall with rebote)
D, 3, 24-20; D+ (overhead pass (Buruzgain?) into the back dugout)
D, 8, 24-21; O+ (left wall, D slips)
O, 4, 25-21; D+ (roof pass)
D, 5, 26-21; D+ (Bevel, 90 degrees into low left wall)
D, 1, 27-21; D+a (low carom off the right side)
D, 2, 27-22; D- (overhand too low)
O, 15, 27-23; O+ (after making great save earlier, 3 wall--right-front-low left)

56 bip; D +6 (2a) -2 (1f); O +2 -0); DP D 2; O 0

Decade 6

O, 2, 28-23; O- (mis-hits cortada)
D, 9, 29-23; D+ (Pumpa Xare--quad 3 center to quad 5, O swings and misses)
D, 1, 30-23; D+a (low right, O returns left--too high)
D, 6, 30-24; O+ (low right pass)
O, 20, 31-24; D+ (high overhead, O returns too high)
D, 11, 32-24; D+ (low cortada to the outside (right))
D, 3, 33-24; D+ (Xare--3rd quad left to 2nd quad)
D, 1, 34-24; D+a (hard right into the back dugout)
D, 1, 35-24; D+a (low left, O returns too high)
D, 4, 35-25; O+ (high overhead left pass (Buruzgain?)
58 bip; D+7 (3a) -0; O+2 -1; DP D 3; O 0
Decade 7

O, 3, 35-26; O+ (2 wall--front-right)
O, 4, 36-26; D+ (high left--O can't reach wall with return)
D, 10, 36-27; O+ (roof pass)
O, 12, 37-27; D+ (two great saves, 2nd is diving to a straight pass)
D, 3, 38-27; D+ (roof pass that O gets to but hits left too high)
D, 3, 39-27; O- (misses 2 wall--right-front)
D, 10, 39-28; O+ (high Bevel two wall--front-low left)
O, 4, 40-28; O+ (D low rebote return of serve then runs all the way to front court, gets to O right dejada that misses xilo, diving left pass)

49 bip; D+4 -0; O+3 -1 DP D 0; O 0

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Final Summary of Group A Tournament: For full scores and match stories see the dates linked to above, or for just match scores see the "dossier" linked to above.

Player--position (avant-front or arriere-back)--Tournament wins-losses

Ducassou (ar) 4-0 TXAPELDUN
Ospital 2-1 (av) (including 2 forfeits) Sub-Campion

Note: Ducassou-Ospital Liguilla match was cancelled because the other 2 players were injured and out of the competition. D and O automatically advanced to finals.

Monce (av) 1-1
Guichandut (ar) 1-1
Etchegaray (av) 1-1 (including 1 forfeit win)
Waltary (av) 1-1
X. Lambert (ar) 1-1
Larralde (av) 1-2 (including 1 forfeit loss)
Bilbao (ar) 1-3 (including 2 forfeit losses)
Iturbe (ar) 0-1
Elgart (av) 0-1 (including 1 forfeit loss)

In matches where front court players played back court players:

B 3-2; F 2-3