The second Grade 2 in France sees a strong field in the Boys with cut around 140 forcing Jack Carpenter, James Marsalek, Ashley Hewitt and Richard Gabb into the qualifying tournament. James came through that smoothly, but Ashley lost in the second round, whilst Jack unfortunately had to retire in his second match. The fate of Richard is unclear. The qualifying draw shows him as defeating Yann Renault 7-5 in the third, but the main draw has Renault in as qualifier (against James).
In the Girls event Stephanie Cornish returns to action and is fortunate to be paired with a wildcard, with a qualifier in the second round, given the similar strength as the Boys' draw. However there are two strong young Russians blocking her path to the semis.
Boys R1
(Q) James Marsalek (GBR) v (Q) Yann Renault (FRA)
Girls R1
(WC) Manon Peral (FRA) v (4) Stephanie Cornish (GBR)
(Q) James Marsalek (GBR) d. (Q) Yann Renault (FRA) 6-7(3) 6-4 6-2
R2
(Q) James Marsalek (GBR) v (WC) Romain Arneodo (FRA)
James has the chance to avenge Ashley Hewitt's defeat by Arneodo last week. The ITF site has Richard down as the loser against Renault (although the FFT still has Richard as winner) and there was no LL slot. Jack's retirement has unfortunately also caused him to pull out of next week's G1 event in France.
(7) Daria Gavrilova (RUS) v (4) Stephanie Cornish (GBR)
Gavrilova has been a great rival of Laura's as top 1994 girl for a long time, but doesn't seem to have progressed much this year. Even so, she should be a tough test for Steph.
