Full Match Video (Source: Esku Pilota Youtube site)
Note: as always, when I judge winners and errors, as opposed to pointing to an official accounting of them, the judgments are completely subjective. Yours may be different. I would love any feedback that would help me judge winners and errors better.
Ducassou started this match with a bang: 4 consecutive service aces. And while some excellent play by Guichandot (6 winners and 2 aces) allowed him to close from 9-2 to 12-10, that was the closest he got. Ducassou answered this challenge with a 15 point run, and cruised home from there. According to the scoring judgments I made, Ducassou had 35 winners (inlcuding 8 service aces) and 2 errors (including 1 service fault). Guichandut had 17 winners (including 2 service aces) and 4 errors (including 1 service fault). There was one point (the 30th point of the match, won by Ducassou to make the score 20-10) that I could not see the outcome of). So it was a remarkably error free match. Ducassou had to earn everything he got.
This match makes a fascinating comparison with the Mano singles matches discussed above. This match was between two back courters. Everyone in the tournament was a back courter. In the San Fermin 4/12 tournament all except one of the contestants (Urrutikoetxea) was a front courter. In the Buruz Buruko Txapelketa front courters dominated the proceedings. I am not sure, but I suspect this has everything to do with the different geographies of the courts. The back courters are much more quick and mobile, for the most part, in Main Neu than in Mano. Various strategies have to be worked out. In the Buruz Buruko a single, brutal, and constant strategy of power was applied (until the last match) for victory by Irribarria because he knew that front courters wouldn't have the range to play from deep in the court. In the San Fermin, more subtle strategies are applied, but they basically apply to a half-court game. In the Trophee de la Rune final, we saw both power and finesse. The whole court is in use and can be used offensively or defensively. It's a fascinating comparison and you may disagree, but it makes for very interesting watching.
Back to the update
