NOTE: IF YOUR DEVICE/BROWSER DOESN'T RESOLVE THE VIDEO LINKS BELOW, THE EASIEST "FIX" IS TO USE THE BASE INTERNET ADDRESS OF THE OPEN DE FRANCE CESTA PUNTA FACEBOOK PAGE.
CLICK OR CUT AND PASTE
ALL MATCH VIDEOS, IN REVERSE ORDER, ARE AT THAT ADDRESS, OR CONSULT THE "VIDEOS" LINK. FOR INDIVIDUAL POINT LINKS I HAVE PROVIDED A "TIME STAMP" WHICH SHOULD HELP IF YOU HAVE TO USE THE ABOVE MAIN ADDRESS.
The Federation Francaise de Pelota Basque has announced a new competition, the 2021 Open de France Cesta Punta, to be held at St. Jean-de-Luz (Donibane Lohizune) (1--Frontons.net) (2--Wikipedia) and Biarritz (1--George Lopez Garcia--beautiful photos) (2--Wikipedia) from February 8-March 4, 2021.
FFPB Announcement (Open de France Cesta Punta Facebook) (French)
Google English Translation
Cesta Punta French Open 2021!
Following the government's recent declarations and the lack of long-term visibility on the holding of future competitions, the Federation Française de Pelote Basque, in consultation with his national coaches Fifi (Philippe) Etcheberry and Eric Irastorza, has decided to hold a French Open. Teams drawn will consist of a professional player, paired with a player from the training centre and placed on the ministerial list of high-level athletes / hopes.
Distributed into 4 Groups of 3 teams, the games will take place in a (double Round Robin) roundtrip format, respectively on the Biarritz and St-Jean-De-Luz frontons. At the end of the 1st phase, each Group 1st place team will be qualified directly for the semi-finals to take place in St-Jean-De-Luz, before competing in the final in Biarritz.
All partidos are scheduled to be broadcast live at 18 pm (6:00 pm) and 19 pm (7:00 pm--French Time (for time conversion to your Time Zone use thetimezoneconverter.com (Paris to your city), Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays on Facebook Live on the official page of the Cesta Punta Open 2021 tournament (on the main page or or on the "videos" page).These matches will also be available on demand after the live stream is over. The competition began on Monday, February 8. and will end with a Final on March 4.
Each team has one professional and one promising amateur/young professional. There will be 4 groups of 3 teams each and the League phase will be a double Round Robin (corrected, February 11, 2021) within each group. Matches will be 2 sets to 15 points and a tie breaker to 5 if necessary. Over serves (pasas) are limited to 5 per match with a second serve allowed. Each pasa after the 5th pasa is an automatic fault. Under serves are automatic faults at all times. The Tournament is scheduled for 27 matches in 4 weeks. (Corrected February 11, 2021). The teams and schedules were drawn by lot.
League scoring:
Straight set win: 4 points (Corrected February 13)
Tie breaker win: 3 points (Corrected February 14)
Tie breaker loss: 1 point
Straight set loss: 0 points
========
Philippe Etcheverry (Coach of the French National Jai Alai team) and Eric Irastorza (Coach of the Under 22 team) discuss the Tournament (French--about 2 minute 50 second video)
Tournament article: (Sud Ouest) (French)
====================
The Teams and Schedule (CPPT=Cesta Punta Pro Tour Group A or B, X=Xistera Kluba 2019)
Group 1:
Iban Etcheberry (B) (age 22)--Txabi Inza (A) (37)
Jon Tambourindeguy (A) (34)--Tom Berthon (B) (22)
Clement Garcia (B) (19)--Thibault Basque (A) (24)
Group 2:
Emeric Libois (1--X--3. Maila Aurrelariak (Front) #3) (2--FFPB 2013 Poussin--Libois is in the white shirt on the left) (age 18-21)--Yann Millat (B) (27)
Ludovic Laduche (A) (27)--Guillen Oyenart (B) (26)
Maxime Benetrix (B) (18)--David Minvielle (A) (36)
Group 3:
Kevin Ithurria (A) (29) (July 2, 2019 St. Jean de Luz full match video--Ithurria is in Red)--Theo Laborde (A) (22)
Bixente Gonzalez (A) (22)--Jerome Portet (A) (25)
Patxi Tambourindeguy (A) (38)--Hugo Ibar (B) (20)
Group 4:
Jean Olharan (A) (31)--Antton de Bettelu (B) (26)
Thomas Urrutia (B) (19)--Julien Ihitsague (B) (28)
Andoni Laloo (B) (24)--Aize Iturralde (B) (26)
Note: Some of these young prospects (links to full match videos) are covered in my Up and Comers blog post. They are:
Maxime Benetrix, Iban Etcheberry, Clement Garcia, Bixente Gonzalez, Thomas Urrutia (avants--fronts); Tom Berthon, Annton de Bettelu, Hugo Ibar, Aize Ithurralde, Theo Laborde. and Guillen Oyenart (arrieres--backs).
==========
Note: all video links are to OFCP 21 Facebook videos. At present the Tournament does not have a web site, only a Facebook site. Note: these are not commercial videos. But they are very good videos, in my opinion. The scores are called out in French and selected scores are shown on a mobile phone. In French: (sounded out, not spelled out): un-1; deu-2, twa-3; cot--4, sank--5, seese--6; set--7, wheat--8, noof (like roof)--9, dees (Chicago pronunciation)--10, ownz--11, dooze--12, trayz--13, cot-orz--14, canz--15. Hope that helps :) :)
WEEK 2
==========
LEAGUE TABLE (3 WEEKS, 22 TOTAL MATCHES It appears the final day's two matches at Biarritz are missing from this table.
Photos from Week 3 (Annton Ado)
Complete table at the end of Week 2 (8 matches--16 total matches (Open de France Cesta Punta Facebook)
Explanations of the possibilities going into Week 3 (Open de France Cesta Punta Facebook) (French)
Google English translation (with a little "help" from me):
The final Week of League play begins Monday, February 23, before the final stages the next week. Qualifiers in Groups 3 and 4 have already been determined. Indeed Ithurria / Laborde (G3) and Olharan / de Bettelu (G4) dominated their Groups, with 3 straight set wins in 2 weeks and 12 League points. Nevertheless they should be careful keep up their intensity and play to win in the fourth and final game, in order to build confidence going into Semi-finals. The eliminated teams, Gonzalez / Portet, P. Tambourindeguy / Ibar, Laloo / Iturralde and Urrutia / Ihitsague will want to finish on a positive note.
Groups 1 and 2, which will meet the winners of Groups 3 and 4 respectively in the Semi-finals, will determine who advances next week. In Group 2, a playoff will be played between Benetrix / Minvielle and Laduche / Oyhenard to determine the winner of the Group. That is, unless Libois / Millat (already eliminated), play a spoiler role by beating Benetrix / Minvielle.
Group 1 is much tighter and all teams still have their say. Garcia / Basque, currently at 5 points, seem to have a slight advantage with 2 matches to play, while Etcheberry / Inza have 6 points with only 1 match to play. Tambourindeguy / Berthon, with 5 points and 1 match to play, are still "in the mix," but they will have to win and receive help to advance.
Team table at the end of week 2 (This is offered as a simplification of the official table).
Key:
Teams; Match Wins-Losses; Set Wins-Losses; Total points for and against; League Round Robin points
*=There are points totals that do not agree with those given in the official source data (Official Tables of OFCP). Where I could not verify the discrepancies, I stuck with the official numbers. Where I could verify the discrepancies, I incorporated the correct numbers into this table. For more, see the match reports where these discrepancies occurred (Week 1 and Week 2).
!=Have won the Group League and will advance to the Semi-finals
Group 1:
Etcheberry-Inza 2-1..4-4..85-88....6
Garcia-T. Basque 1-1..3-2..58-56....5
J. Tambourndeguy-Berthon 1-2..3-4..87-86....5
Group 2:
Benetrix-Minvielle 2-0..4-0..60-41....8
Laduche-Oyenart 2-1..4-2..83-70....8
Libois-Millat 0-3..0-6..58-90....0
Group 3:
Ithurria-Laborde! 3-0..6-0..90-58...12
Gonzalez-Portet 1-2..2-5..70-88*...3
P. Tambourindeguy-Ibar 0-2..1-4..47-61*...1
Note: Jan Belly replaced the injured Patxi Tambourindeguy for one match during Week 2
Group 4:
Olharan-de Bettelu! 3-0..6-0..90-63...12
Laloo-Iturralde 1-1..2-3..50-57*...3
Urrutia-Ihitsague 0-3..1-6..70-90*...1
+++
Cumulative Statistics:
Cumulative Total Scores (winners +) (errors -)
Week 1: +200 -231 (.464)
Week 2: +175 -245 (.417)
TOTAL: +375 -476 (.441)
-----------------
Cumulative Non-error percent (Balls in Play - errors / Balls in Play)
Week 1: (BIP - errors 2,690--Average per match 336) / (BIP 2,921--Average 365): .921
Week 2: (BIP - errors 2,269--Average per match 284) / (BIP 2,515--Average 314): .902
TOTAL: (BIP - errors 4,959--Average per match 310) / (BIP 5,436--Average 340): .912
-----------------
Cumulative Serve Intercepts immediate (winners +) (errors -)
Week 1: +34 (Average per match 4.25) -17 (Average 2.13) (.667)
Week 2: +36 (Average 4.5) -9 (Average 1.1) (.800)
Total: +70 (Average 4.4) -26 (Average 3.3) (.729)
+++
Individual Player Statistics (through Week 2: 16 matches)
Fronts (Avants)
Fronts are sorted by net score (winners - errors).
Key:
Player; # of matches played; winners +; errors -; Intercept immediate winners + errors - ; Net score; +/- Net score this week
Olharan (G4) 3..+33 -10..+10 -0..+23..+11
Ithurria (G3) 3..+40 -19...+5 -2..+21..+15
J. Tambourindeguy (G1) 3..+34 -15..+10 -4..+19...+5
Laduche (G2) 3..+33 -18..+13 -0..+15...+6
Gonzalez (G3) 3..+28 -22...+6 -3...+6...-2
P. Tambourindeguy (G3) 1..+11 -6...+5 -2...+5...--
Benetrix (G2) 2..+16 -14...+3 -0...+2...+1
Belly (G3) 1...+8 -6...+2 -0...+2...+2
Laloo (G4) 2..+15 -19...+0 -1...-4...-5
Garcia (G1) 2..+16 -22...+5 -4...-6...-6
Etcheberry (G1) 3..+20 -32...+6 -2..-12...-9
Urrutia (G4) 3..+20 -34...+4 -5..-14...-7
Libois (G2) 3..+11 -29...+3 -2..-18..-16
Backs (Arrieres)
Backs are sorted by number of errors (fewest to most)
Key:
Player; # of matches played; (winners +; errors -; Net score; +/- Net Score this week
Laborde (G3) 3....+8 -10...-2...-2
Ihitsague (G4) 3....+5 -10...-5...-1
Minvielle (G2) 2....+7 -13...-6...-2
Iturralde (G4) 2....+2 -13..-11...-2
T. Basque (G1) 2....+9 -15...-6...-6
Inza (G1) 3....+7 -16...-9...-7
Ibar (G3) 2....+5 -16..-11...-5
Millat (G2) 3....+6 -17..-11...-7
Portet (G3) 3....+7 -21..-14...-6
de Bettelu (G4) 3...+13 -27..-14...-7
Oyenart (G2) 3...+10 -30..-20...-7
Berthon (G1) 3....+8 -36..-28..-13
==========
*=Discrepancy between the official score and the real score. See individual match for more. In cases where more points were actually played than the official score, I have scored each player for all those points. Individual player scores will not add up to the total official scores.
Week 3
February 22--Day 9
Group 1
Saint-Jean-de-Luz
Match 2
Garcia-T. Basque (Blue) 2 (2-1) 8 points
J. Tambourindeguy-Berthon (Red) (1-3) 6 points
(15-8, 10-15, 5-3) (30-26)
FULL MATCH VIDEO (due to technical problems the match was divided into four files). This is the first time in 18 matches, 8 matches a week, that there has been a technical glitch. Considering the fact that this tournament has been filmed with a single camera, the fact that this was the first time any points were missed due to mechanical failure is amazing, in my opinion.
Part 1 (duration 36:30)
Part 2 (1:30)
Part 3 (8:18)
Part 4 (13:44)
Match article (Pilota Ttiki) (French)
Notable:
This was basically an elimination match. The only team that could not afford to lose it was J. Tambourindeguy-Berthon. They lost and were eliminated. The Group 1 League Championship match will be played on Thursday, February 25 at Biarritz. Etcheberry-Inza, with 8 League points, will play against Garcia-Basque, who now also have 8. In the 1st match they played Garcia-Basque won 2-1 (9-15; 15-11; 5-2).
J. Tambourindeguy-Berthon finished 1-3, with 2 of the losses in Tie Breakers by a total of 3 points. This match was evenly contested but had many errors. Set 1 began with 9 errors in the first 10 points. Set 2 began with 10 errors in the first 12 points. It was better than the numbers indicated, mostly because G-Ba did what has been done to T-Be throughout the Tournament. They forced Tom Berthon to play in the back corner, a part of the concha (court) he has had difficulty with. He was severely tested and made, by my count, 17 errors. But many of those were due to the precise shots by both of his opponents. They were forced errors. At times Berthon lost confidence, and at other times Tambourindeguy felt forced to make more serve intercepts than he might otherwise have.
Berthon never stayed down for long. He fought hard and during one of the pivotal points of Set 2 (for video, see below under longest match points), he made 5 excellent catches deep near the the left wall. However, his opponents did not stop testing him. And in the Tie Breaker he cracked, dropping 4 catches. It was difficult to watch, but Cesta Punta has a steep learning curve at this level. One of the main reasons for this Tournament was to give the young up and comers in Iparralde (North Basque) a chance to get real and intense experience, with 4 high power matches in three weeks. I hope that Berthon is able to shake off the more negative aspects of his experience and, now knowing for sure what he needs to work on, improves. In my opinion, the raw talent and "hustle" is there. And he will most likely profit from having one of the greatest backs (Eric Irastorza) of this generation as a coach.
Jon Tambourindeguy, once again, made great friends with the floor. This match, just for fun, I counted the number of falling rebotes he executed. The number was 14: 3, 8, and 3. I wonder how long it takes to recover from that kind of pounding.
If you want to see a nice microcosm of the match, which features fine play by all, watch the longest point (23 balls in play), linked to below.
Note: Due to technical problems with the video, 2 points from Set 2 were missing. With the help of the announcer, I was able to ascertain who won those points, but not any number of balls in play for one and only a partial number for the other. All player statistics are based on 54 total points, rather than the 56 that were actually played.
Condensed full linescores (match winners always listed first)
Set 1
2-0; 2-1; 6-1; 6-2; 8-2; 8-3; 10-3; 10-4; 11-4; 11-6; 13-6; 13-7; 14-7; 14-8; 15-8
0 equal scores, 0 lead changes, biggest run: 4 (2-1--6-1; G-Ba)
Set 2
2-0; 2-1; 3-1; 3-3; 5-3; 5-5; 7-5; 7-9; 8-9; 8-10; 9-10; 9-12; 10-12; 10-15
3 equal scores, 1 lead change, biggest run: 4 (7-5--7-9; T-Be)
Tie Breaker
Tie Breaker full video (Part 4, 3:50)
0-1; 2-1; 2-2; 3-2; 3-3; 5-3
Tie Breaker point by point:
Point number: Server, Balls in play; Score, Player +/-; comment.
coin toss determined who served first.
Tie Breaker full video (Part 4, 3:50)
https://www.facebook.com/OpenDeFranceCestaPunta/videos/444792963628221?t=230
0-1; 2-1; 2-2; 3-2; 3-3; 5-3
Tie Breaker point by point:
Point number: Server, Balls in play; Score, Player +/-; comment.
coin toss determined who served first.
1. Garcia; 4; 0-1; Garcia -; dropped catch
2. J. Tambourindeguy; 2; 1-1; Berthon -; dropped catch
3. Garcia; 3; 2-1; Berthon -; dropped catch
4. Garcia; 8; 2-2; J. Tambourindeguy +; 2 walls
5. J. Tambourindeguy; 10; 3-2; Berthon -; dropped catch
6. Garcia; 4; 3-3; T. Basque -; dropped catch
7. J. Tambourindeguy; 2; 4-3; Berthon -; dropped catch
8. Garcia; 3; 5-3; Garcia +; chic chac (ball hits back wall on the bounce so low or hard it can't be returned)
Time Outs:
Set 1: Time Out for equipment repair--Garcia's cesta, after 11-6.
Set 2: Time Out requested by G-Ba after 7-9
Set 3: Time Out for equipment repair--J. Tambourindeguy's cesta, after 3-3
Full match scoring (mine, yours may be different)
Garcia +6 -6; T. Basque +0 -5
J. Tambourindeguy +13 -7; Berthon +0 -17
Serve intercepts; immediate winners/errors (+/-)
Garcia 9 (+0 -0)
J. Tambourindeguy 12 (+7 -2)
Pasas (over serves, 2nd serve allowed)
Garcia 2
J. Tambourindeguy 5
Total score: +19 -35 (.352)
Balls in play: 248
Non-error Percent: (BIP - errors) / BIP) (214/248): .863
BIP--points
0-4--34
5-9--12
10-14--8
Longest point: 11
1. Set 1: (video) (Part 1: 17:47) 12-6--13-6. Garcia serves.
2. Set 2 (video) Part 1: 35:11) 7-6--7-7. J. Tambourindeguy serves
3. Set 2 (video) Part 3 (5:15): 9-11--9-12. J. Tambourindeguy serves.
Average BIP per point: 4.6
Time of the match: (54 of the 56 points): 46:05
Average Time per point: 51 seconds
+++
February 22--Day 9
Group 2
Saint-Jean-de-Luz
Match 1
Laduche-Oyenart (Red) 2 (3-1) 12 points
Benetrix-Minvielle (Blue) 0 (2-1) 8 points
(15-11, 15-7) (30-18)
Match article (Pilota Ttiki) (French)
Notable:
The winners kept the losers at bay the entire match, never giving up the lead in either set. Set 1 was especially frustrating for Benetrix-Minvielle in that they got to within one point of the lead 5 times and were able to equalize the score once. Winners by Ludovic Laduche held them off four times, and their own errors twice. Laduche had a masterful Set 1 (+9 -3). The other three players had a combined total of +3 -12. One of Laduche's best winners occured on the longest point of the match (see video below), when he chased down a Maxime Benetrix dejada (drop shot) thrown from the 8 line all the way to the about the 3 line, caught it and fired a picada (overhand shot) to the outside to win the point. Laduche also finished the set with two 2 wall winners, the first on a serve intercept and the second to end the set (a 7 ball point).
Points 14 and 15 (video) (29:40). Benetrix serves.
In Set 2, L-O jumped out to a 6-2 lead and were never really threatened. Laduche made and outstanding play on his team's 11th point. Benetrix intercepted his serve and threw a two wall winner...only it wasn't. Laduche, charging down the concha (court) on the right side, was able to catch it on his backhand side and throw a perfect two wall winner of his own.
Point 11 (video) (47:16)
The match was crucial for both teams as they each entered with 8 League points, with M-B having one extra match to play. But they started poorly with 3 consecutive errors, and didn't score a winner until the 15th point of the set. Indeed, the first set began quite raggedly with 5 consecutive errors, and in the first 14 points, Laduche was the only player to score, with 4 of his team's 8 points. L-O finish their League play with 12 points. B-M must win their final match decisively enough to have a better net points score in order to advance. The two teams split two matches, each winning in straight sets.
If you want to see a nice microcosm of the match, which features fine play by all, watch the longest point (23 balls in play), linked to below.
Condensed full linescores (match winners always listed first)
Set 1
3-0; 3-2; 5-2; 5-4; 6-4; 6-5; 7-5; 7-6; 8-6; 8-8; 10-8; 10-9; 12-9; 12-10; 13-10; 13-11; 15-11
1 equal score, 0 lead changes, biggest run: 3 (0-0--3-0; L-O)
Set 2
1-0; 1-1; 6-1; 6-3; 8-3; 8-4; 9-4; 9-5; 11-5; 11-6; 14-6; 14-7; 15-7
1 equal score, 0 lead changes; biggest run: 5: (1-1--6-1; L-O)
There was 1 Time Out requested, 1st set, after 10-9, by L-O
Full match scoring (mine, yours may be different)
Laduche +14 -6 (including 1 service fault, an over serve); Oyenart +2 -8
Benetrix +2 -8; Minvielle +2 -6
Serve intercepts; immediate winners/errors (+/-)
Laduche 5 (+3 -0)
Benetrix 8 (+0 -0)
Pasas (over serves, 2nd serve allowed)
Laduche 5
Benetrix 3
Total score: +20 -28 (.417)
Balls in play: 284
Non-error Percent: (BIP - errors) / BIP) (256/284): .901
BIP--points
0-4--20
5-9--20
10-14--7
15+--1
Longest point: 16 (video) (13:03): Set 1: 5-4--6-4. Benetrix serving (after a Pasa).
Average BIP per point: 5.9
Time of the match: 51:55
Average Time per point: 65 seconds
