SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ (DONIBANE LOHIZUNE) SLAM
BIARRITZ SLAM (GANT D'OR)
PAU CUP SLAM
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This post will keep you up to date on links to full match video scores, scoring, statistics, and match articles (when available). It will run with a no spoiler section at the top, with only the match-ups and video links. Following those, there will be a multiple === barrier. Below that will be the match score, line scores, statistics, and match articles (if and when available). For facebook videos, I will provide complete scoring (my own). For Youtube videos, which are commercial quality I will copy out statistics provided by Canal +, EITB, or CPPT sources.
NO SPOILER SECTION
THURSDAY, 8/24/23: SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ SLAM 2ND SEMI-FINAL
INAKI GOIKOETXEA--DAVID MINVIELLE v ARITZ ERKIAGA--GORKA SOROZABAL
FULL MATCH VIDEO (CANAL + via SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ CESTA PUNTA YOUTUBE)
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TUESDAY, 8/22/23: SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ SLAM 1ST SEMI-FINAL
JOHAN SOROZABAL--IMANOL LOPEZ v LUDOVIC LADUCHE--JULEN DEL RIO
FULL MATCH VIDEO (CANAL + via SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ CESTA PUNTA YOUTUBE)
FINAL, ON TUESDAY, 8/29/23
THAT MATCH WILL BE STREAMED, LIVE, BEGINNING AT 8:45 PM LOCAL TIME, AT THE SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ CESTA PUNTA YOUTUBE SITE
SPOILER SECTION BELOW
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SPOILERS
THURSDAY, 8/24/23: SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ SLAM 2ND SEMI-FINAL
ARITZ ERKIAGA--GORKA SOROZABAL 2
INAKI GOIKOETXEA--DAVID MINVIELLE 0
15-11, 15-10 (30-21)
FULL MATCH VIDEO (CANAL + via SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ CESTA PUNTA YOUTUBE)
Note: This match seemed slightly less sharp than the other matches this week. Gorka was playing in his 3rd match in 4 days, Aritz, Goiko, and Minvielle were playing in their 2nd matches in 4 days. Goiko and Gorka were playing back to back matches, and following up a prestigious Final with a Semi-Final.
In Set 1 Goiko began with a serve intercept--immediate kill to take a 1-0 lead. The 2nd point, again, as has been the case all week, in enervating heat, was a mammoth 43 ball point, finally won by GM (43 and 38 years old respectively). But it seemed to take more out of them than their opponents. 0-2 became 6-2 in the space of 41 balls. During this passage two more Goiko serve intercepts came to nothing. He scored with an immediate kill after a serve intercept to stanch the bleeding (7-3--7-4), and then Aritz tried his hand at serve intercepts on the next two points. All he got for his trouble was 2 errors in the space of 2 balls. (7-5 and 7-6). He would try one more intercept but erred with it as well (11-8--11-9) and then there would be no more Aritz serve intercepts for the rest of the match. It was about the only chink in his armor for the whole match. GM reached equality at 7, but then a 4 point run (11-7) turned into an 8-4 route the finished the set. 2 of GM's points in that span came on Aritz' 3rd error trying to intercept the serve and Goiko's third serve intercept/immediate kill that delayed the end by one point. Minvielle played a poor set by his standards, with 4 errors, and Gorka, inspite of his +1 -3, seemed to have the most energy of anybody, playing some excellent defense.
The second set saw the winners assert themselves from the beginning, (4-0, 7-2, 10-4) before GM slowed them down, but by then it was far too late. Goiko intercepted 6 Aritz' serves in this set, and immediately converted 3, but it was too little to late, as Aritz, playing more within himself, and Gorka, making some superb leaping saves, won going away.
Line Scores (winning team always listed 1st)
0-2; 6-2; 6-3; 7-3; 7-7; 11-7; 11-9; 13-9; 13-10; 14-10; 14-11; 15-11
-2; +4; +3; +4; =; +4; +2; +4; +3; +4; +3; +4
2 EQUAL SCORES, 1 LEAD CHANGE
SET 2
4-0; 4-1; 6-1; 6-2; 7-2; 7-4; 10-4; 10-5; 12-5; 12-9; 14-9; 14-10; 15-10
+4; +3; +5; +4; +5; +3; +6; +5; +7; +3; +5; +4; +5
0 EQUAL SCORES, 0 LEAD CHANGES
SCORING (Canal + for the first set and partial scoring for the 2nd set--fronts only)
Set 1
ERKIAGA +6 -3; G SOROZABAL +1 -3
GOIKOETXEA +4 -4; MINVIELLE +1 -4
Set 1+2 Cumulative
Last score given for ERKIAGA was +10 -4 (10-5--11-5)
Last score given for GOIKOETXEA was +6 -7 (7-2--7-3)
FOR THE MATCH:
PASAS (1ST SERVE OVER SERVES, 5 ALLOWED BEFORE PENALTY):
GOIKOETXEA 0; ERKIAGA 4
SERVE INTERCEPTS:
GOKOETXEA 11 (6 immediate kills, 0 errors, 1 was returned for an immediate kill by Erkiaga, 4 had no immediate effect)
ERKIAGA 3 (3 errors)
BALL IN PLAY: 326
AVERAGE BALLS PER POINT: 6.4
BIP / POINTS
0-4 / 24
5-9 / 18
10-14 / 6
15-19 / 2
43 / 1
TIME OUTS: 1
BALL CHANGES: EG 1; GM 1
GOOGLE ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Bitterness for Goiko
We will no longer see the immense Iñaki Goikoetxea on the Luzian cancha, at least during the Internationals or other official competition. Having become one of the darlings of jai alai over the years, he decided to retire. But no doubt thought to celebrate his exit during the final of this Slam 2023. No, it will therefore be during the semi-final disputed this Thursday. And through the back door. Accompanied by David Minvielle, he succumbed dryly to Erkiaga and Gorka Sorozabal. Worse he was a shadow of himself.
Undoubtedly his suddenly “old” legs did not take the chain with the final of the Gant d'Or which was difficult to win the day before in Biarritz. From the first race he displayed his difficulties of the day without Minvielle being able to compensate. Despite a few flashes he could not prevent Erikiaga and G.Sorozabal, impeccable without genius, from quietly leading their boat to win 15-11.
Bis repeated in the second act with a carefree success 15-10 and therefore the key to the final at the end. A game that will not date if not marked with a bit of bitterness for Goiko who deserved a more brilliant exit even if he was acclaimed at the end.
The only interest of this result is that we will see face to face in a final the two Sorozabal brothers.
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TUESDAY, 8/22/23: SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ 1ST SEMI-FINAL
JOHAN SOROZABAL--IMANOL LOPEZ 2
LUDOVIC LADUCHE--JULEN DEL RIO 1
13-15, 15-7, 5-2 (33-24)
Note: this match, like the Biarritz semi-final yesterday, included two controversial calls. But unlike Biarritz, Saint-Jean-de-Luz had a judges review system in place. Both calls were reviewed and upheld.
Line Scores (winning team always listed 1st)
SET 1
0-1; 1-1; 1-4; 2-4; 2-5; 5-5; 5-6; 7-6; 7-7; 8-7; 8-10; 11-10; 11-12; 13-12; 13-15
-1; =; -3; -2; -3; =; -1; +1; =; +1; -2; +1; -1; +1, -2
9 EQUAL SCORES, 6 LEAD CHANGES
SET 2
2-0; 2-1; 6-1; 6-3; 8-3; 8-6; 9-6; 9-7; 15-7
+2; +1; +5; +3; +5; +2; +3; +2; +8
0 EQUAL SCORES, 0 LEAD CHANGES
TIE BREAKER
3-0; 3-1; 4-1; 4-2; 5-2
+3; +2; +3; +2; +3
0 EQUAL SCORES, 0 LEAD CHANGES
SCORING (Canal + for the first and cumulative 1st and 2nd sets); my scoring (yours may be different for the tie breaker
SET 1
SOROZABAL +4 -3; LOPEZ +1 -3
LADUCHE +6 -4; DEL RIO +3 -4
SET 1+2 (CUMULATIVE)
SOROZABAL +11 -4; LOPEZ +2 -4
LADUCHE +9 -10; DEL RIO +5 -5
TIE BREAKER
(c)=catching error; (t)= throwing error
*=confirmed after a judges' review
f=fault (underserve)
**=shot of the match (IMH), two wall winner from the right side at 14 line
POINT #; SERVER; BALLS IN PLAY; SCORE; +/-
1 La 4 1-0 La - (c)
2 S 3 2-0 D - (t)
3 S 3 3-0 S + *
4 S 0 3-1 S - (f)
5 La 4 4-1 La - (c)
6 S 2 4-2 D + **
7 La 16 5-2 S +
SOROZABAL +2 -1(fault); LOPEZ +0 -0
LADUCHE +0 -2 (2 catching); DEL RIO +1 -1 (1 throwing)
FOR THE MATCH:
PASAS: LADUCHE 4; SOROZABAL 0
SERVE INTERCEPTS:
LADUCHE 7 (3 immediate kills, 3 errors, 1 had no immediate effect)
SOROZABAL 2 (0 immediate kills, 1 error, 1 had no immediate effect)
TOTAL MATCH SCORING: (Earned points---[+]winners) Unearned points--[-] opponents errors)
SL +15 -18=33
LD +15 - 9=24
TOTAL MATCH SCORE: +30 -27 (.526)
BALLS IN PLAY: 382
NON-ERROR PERCENT (BALLS IN PLAY - ERRORS) / BALLS IN PLAY
(382 - 27) / 382 (.940)
AVERAGE BALLS PER POINT: 6.7
BIP / POINTS
0-4 / 24
5-9 / 18
10-14 / 7
15-19 / 5
20-24 / 2
25 / 1
Time outs: 3 (2 judges reviews, LD 1)
GOOGLE ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Johan Sorozabal and Imanol Lopez first finalists
On this Tuesday evening, the first semi-final of the Slam was disputed, leading to the crowning of the season. For the occasion, were face to face Johan Sorozabal and Imanol Lopez against Ludo Laduche and Julen Del Rio. The former were logically favorites on paper. Quite the opposite of what happened in the first round. Julen, who has just arrived in competitions in the Basque Country from Mexico, was attractive during his first outings. There he drove the point home. Physically impressive he was also subtle in his defensive placements and effective in his offensive interventions. In front of him Ludo Laduche confirmed the clear progress shown throughout this season. Without complex he stood up to his prestigious opponents. And the two men won the first round (15-13) against Sorozabal and Lopez who did not disappoint, quite the contrary. A dazzling round and a treat for the spectators.
The beginning of the second act was of the same ilk. With a confrontation still as brilliant and undecided. Until a 9-7 for Sorozabal-Lopez which marked the turning point of the set and, we can say it now, of the game. Because Laduche and Del Rio experienced a real slump, especially physical. A sore leg followed by a big headache when the opponent threaded the points like pearls. Laduche and Del Rio remained at 7 while Sorozabal and Lopez reached the fateful bar of 15.
A dynamic that marked the beautiful reaped without trembling (5-2) by J.Sorozabal and Lopez who will therefore play the grand final in a week. ; Their opponents will be known this Thursday.
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SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ (DONIBANE LOHIZUNE) SLAM
BIARRITZ SLAM (GANT D'OR)
PAU CUP SLAM
