“Oh yes, it feels good to come back to the final. And, above all, to come off the court victorious (laughs).” Ten months later, he brought home a new haircut! Sacred for the first time, last December, on the ITF circuit (during the Torelló event, in Spain, with a prize-money of $ 15,000), Arthur Cazaux (19 years old, Stade Toulousain) added since Sunday a second line to his list.

But in Setubal (Portugal, $ 25,000), the Stadiste had to go through the qualifications. “At the start of the tournament, I did not play very well. Of my seven matches, I passed three times in three sets, especially with the super tie-break (ten points to five, Editor’s note) on my last round of” qualifying ” “. But in the semi and final, I was able to straighten the bar. I managed to gain momentum. And, fortunately, it ended well,” said the one who won two places on Monday in the standings ATP to point to 342nd place, for the moment its best ranking.

“During this summer period, I was bad”

Beaten twice this year on the final march of an ITF tournament (in Germany in mid-April, then in Romania at the end of August), Arthur is reaping the benefits of a questioning that began in mid-September after a setback in the first round of the Challenger de Cassis. “During this summer period, I must admit that I was bad. I had lost my way in my game. I was surely lacking in physical freshness. Looking back, I think I wanted to chain tournaments a little too much. So, after Cassis, I had decided to give myself a one-month break to go back to work, so I had three weeks of training, the opportunity to field more than two weeks of training. In the end, it did me a lot of good. And I’m happy to see that the work paid off from my resumption tournament. After a complicated start to the week, I really wanted to finish in style, “explains the Toulouse driver.

Victory yesterday after being led 6-0, 5-2!

This week, Arthur continues his stay in Portugal with a stopover in Loulé (ITF $ 25,000) where he is seeded N.2. And yesterday afternoon, in the second round, he signed a ninth consecutive victory against the Moroccan Elliot Benchetrit (345th). But the Haut-Garonnais came close to leaving the road. “I was behind 6-0, 5-2 with two points left. I also saved a match point. With such a score, I started to try things because I didn’t have any more. nothing to lose. And it worked. Of course, my level of play was not extraordinary. But it’s still the kind of success that is good for morale, “he concedes. Today, the Stadiste has an appointment for the quarter-finals and he will find on his way the Portuguese Pedro Araujo (798th), his victim last week in the second round.