2015 Quimper Challenger Recap
Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic
Coming off a final in Cherbourg the week before, #4 seed Benoit Paire looked to be ready to repeat that achievement in Quimper and perhaps even go one step further. He surely started in impressive fashion, not dropping a set on his way to the final. Even top seed Farrukh Dustov couldn’t threaten him and fell 6-4 6-2 to the Frenchman in the semi-final. In the bottom half the seeds were unable to impress, with #7 seed Liam Broady withdrawing prior to his first match, while #3 seed Andreas Beck and #2 seed Kenny De Schepper both fell in the second round. #5 seed Iliya Marchenko went one round further, before he fell to French veteran David Guez, 6-7(4) 7-6(5) 6-2. Wild card Gregoire Barrere was the one who took out De Schepper and continued his run against the twelve year older Guez in the semi-final, beating his countryman 6-3 1-6 6-1.
Paire was the overwhelming favorite in the final, but it was a lot closer than most people expected, with him just edging out Barrere in a very tight encounter, 6-4 3-6 6-4. It meant a lot to him, dropping to his knees and burying his head in his hands, and understandably, as it marked his return to the top 100 after a long battle against his knee injury. Paire rises eighteen spots to #89, while Barrere makes a monster jump from #435 to #324.
https://twitter.com/MichelBOfficiel/status/574789927549829121
Tennis Atlantic 