French duo upsets Americans in qualifying match of Moscow Grand Slam tournament
The Qualification Tournament of the 2012 Moscow Grand Slam took place on Thursday and it featured a big upset in the round 2, where French 17th-seeded pair of Giaoui and Benhamou defeated the top-seeded Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Hanson of USA.
The French and American pairs opened the match on a good note. The American duo had more support on their side and many would have thought that they were easily going to edge out the French counterparts.
However, the pairing of Giaoui and Benhamou put up a real good effort and did not show any sign of intimidation. They played in their usual style and scored consistently. The US pair showed variety in the serves and attack, which created a bit of trouble
for French team.
Nevertheless, they did not slow down and counter-attacked. The French players jumped on every little opportunity to score points and made only fewer mistakes. Good defence and offence helped them achieve success in the opening stanza at 21-19.
In the second frame, Fendrick and Hanson came strong on the rivals. They picked an early lead and stormed French half with ground breaking shots. The ball frequently landed on the French side and raised the American score by leaps and bounds. The Americans
did not show mercy and swept the feet of their counterparts. As a result, French duo dropped the second set with big margin of 10 points (11-21).
The game entered the decisive third set, which was the final test of skills for both teams. Interestingly enough, French pairing displayed an incredible show of beach volleyball and took the score by storm. By the time the Americans could score 7 points,
the French hit the mark and claimed match points. They finished third set 15-7 and seized 2-1 victory.
It came as a surprise for everyone as anyone hardly thought of French victory in the match. For French tandem, whose best finish so far was 17th at the 2011 Quebec Open, it turned out to be major success.
Benhamou, who was totally filled with joy and excitement, shared her thoughts after the match. She said, “We just did not have any expectations today. And when one of us was down, the other one pulled us up. This is a great result for us. We have been working
hard and Deborah has sacrificed a lot these past years.”
In the next run, the French duo is determined to make good use of the opportunity and to perform well at the Main Draw.
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