“It’s a good thing to start this French championship with great success.” Captain of the Stade Toulousain TC, Philippe Reboul was not bored on Saturday, on the side of Arras (Pas-de-Calais) for the new Interclubs Pro A campaign. An edition that the Stadistes attacked for the first time with the status of title lessees.

To hope, at least, to return to the final (December 10 in Créteil, on the facilities of the Val-de-Marne committee), the STTC players must finish at the top of their group. Admittedly, the road is still long with four more days to go. But this victory 5 points to 1 in Arragen land is reassuring in view of the trip scheduled for tomorrow in Nantes (start of the meeting at 11 am).

4-0 after the singles

“We were able to count on Hugo Gaston (106th in the world) who was solid against the Austrian Gerald Melzer (376th) with a success with the score of 6-4, 6-3. There, he returned to the Challenger circuit in Italy because he still needs points to insert the final table of the Australian Open. But if he were to lose quickly in this Italian tournament, he could be aligned Wednesday against Nantes, “explains Philippe Reboul.

Benjamin Bonzi (60th) and Arthur Cazaux (390th) also won their games in two sets, respectively against the Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles (74th; 6-1, 6-4) and the French Jurgen Briand (413th; 6 -3, 6-1). “Benjamin was back to competition after a calf injury. He made a good copy. As for Arthur, the score of the second set does not really reflect what happened on the court. There are had a lot of side games”, underlines Philippe Reboul.

On the other hand, Arthur Reymond (616th) had to wait for the super tie-break (2-6, 6-4, 12-10) to overcome his compatriot Sean Cuenin (540th). “I had beaten him a week earlier, for our first confrontation, on an ITF in Spain. There, I had a hard time getting into it. But my friends pushed me well”, summarizes the left-hander.

Regarding the doubles, the Benjamin Bonzi-Hugo Nys pair also won in two sets. On the other hand, the duo Sadio Doumbia-Fabien Reboul surrendered in two rounds. Note that this Saturday the Stadistes will play at home against Blanc-Mesnil.