It was the final everyone was waiting for, and it more than lived up to expectations. Nathan Perrot and Sacha Huard de La Marre (TS1) became French U16 champions this Friday in Cabriès, defeating Victor Caby and Louis Cacheux (TS2) in a three-set battle: 6-4, 4-6, 7-6. The final, lasting 1 hour and 34 minutes, was the first to go to three sets since the start of the 2026 French Youth Championships, and featured spectacular points, match points saved on both sides, and a nail-biting tiebreak. 

The final everyone was waiting for

The top two seeds lived up to their ranking perfectly until the final match.

The painting placed  Nathan Perrot / Sacha Huard de La Marre are the number 1 seeds , before  Victor Caby / Louis Cacheux, TS2  : Perrot was 64th Frenchman and Huard de La Marre 115th, against the 137th and 186th places of Caby and Cacheux.

However, the two pairs had followed different paths.

Perrot/Huard de La Marre had made a perfect start to their campaign by dominating Saintot/Anelli  6 / 2 6 / 1  in the quarter-finals, before delivering a particularly solid semi-final against Gueguen / Valigiani, which they won  6 / 0 7 / 6 .

Caby/Cacheux had to fight harder. After a victory  7 / 6 7 / 5  Against Royon / Legendre in the quarter-finals, they had eliminated Hemery / Mura in three sets in the semi-finals.  4/6 6/4 6/2 .

Friday's schedule therefore confirmed the expected lineup on the central track:  TS1 vs TS2 for the French U16 Championship title .

One set apiece, and a final that takes on a whole new dimension

From the very first exchanges, the difference with previous encounters is obvious.

Perrot / Huard de La Marre take the first set  6/4 But Caby/Cacheux responded immediately. More aggressive, they in turn took the second set.  6/4 .

For the first time since the launch of these French Youth Championships in Cabriès,  A final must therefore be decided in a third set. .

And this final act will deliver the scenario we always hope for in a match for a national title.

The exchanges become longer, the four players produce several spectacular points and no one really manages to break the other pair.

A match point saved on each side

The end of the match gets completely crazy.

Even before entering the third-set tie-break,  Both teams had to save a match point on a point of gold. .

À  6 / 5, 40 / 40 Perrot and Huard de La Marre, in particular, found themselves one point away from losing the title. The following point was probably one of the most spectacular of this final. The two My Center Palavas players survived this match point and snatched the tiebreak.

After nearly an hour and a half of fighting, everything will therefore be decided in seven points.

Perrot/Huard gain a few meters… and never give them back.

Like the rest of the match, the tie-break remains extremely close.

Perrot / Huard de La Marre, however, managed to quickly take a  mini-break ahead A small advantage, but one that will ultimately make all the difference.

À  6/3 the favorites get  three match balls .

 The first is the good one. 

Nathan Perrot and Sacha Huard de La Marre can let their joy explode:  They are the French U16 champions for 2026. , after a victory  6/4 4/6 7/6 in 1h34 .

Only two points separate the finalists

The statistics perfectly illustrate the balance of this final.

After three sets, Perrot / Huard de La Marre won  94 points , against  92 for Caby / Cacheux Out of 186 points contested, only two separate the two teams.

Same balance on break points:  5 converted out of 9  for the new French champions, against  On 5 10  for their opponents.

However, the two pairs did not construct their points in the same way.

Caby/Cacheux were clearly more offensive with  53 winning points , compared to 35 for Perrot/Huard. But this aggressiveness was also accompanied by more waste:  36 unforced errors against 24 .

The gap is even more pronounced on the return leg:  12 return faults for Caby / Cacheux, only 3 for Perrot / Huard .

A clash of styles that ultimately sums up the match quite well: Caby and Cacheux were more focused on making the difference, while Perrot and Huard de La Marre displayed greater consistency. After 1 hour and 34 minutes, it came down to just two points.

French U16 Championships: Perrot / Huard de La Marre survive a match point and clinch the title

A title that confirms their progress

This title did not come about by chance for Nathan Perrot and Sacha Huard de La Marre.

The two players have been playing together for several seasons and are  trained at the My Center Academy in Palavas , where their daily life is now structured around a high-level project with two padel training sessions and daily physical preparation.

They are also very familiar with the major youth tournaments. Both were selected with  the French U16 team  for the 2026 European Youth Championships in Portugal.

And above all, they had already made a strong impression a few weeks before Cabriès by winning the  FIP Promises Paris U16 , with a 6/3 6/3 victory in the final against the Italians Giulio Menotti / Jacopo Battilani.

FIP Promises Paris by WME Sports: Nathan Perrot and Sacha Huard de La Marre crowned U16 champions

However, they had experienced disappointment at the 2025 French U16 Championships, finishing as finalists.

One year later, the medal therefore changes color.

Caby/Cacheux, a defeat that erases nothing

We should also remember the tournament of Victor Caby and Louis Cacheux.

The two players from Hauts-de-France have known each other for a long time. Caby has historically been registered with the  TC Hem , while Cacheux comes from the  TSB Valenciennes They were already part of the Hauts-de-France selection together, which won the French interleague U14 championship in 2024.

Their project has since taken on an additional dimension. Victor Caby is also training in  My Center Palavas while Louis Cacheux chose a different path by leaving to train at  Bilbao with Andoni Bardasco , former player in the world's top 25.

In Cabriès, they came within a few points of a national title.

A perfect final to kick off the U18s

Finally, it's hard to imagine a better transition.

After the U14 and then U16 titles, the  The French U18 Championships begin this afternoon in Cabriès. .

And the four boys have just set the bar very high:  Three sets, 186 points played, two match points saved before the tie-break, and only a two-point difference in total. .

Nathan Perrot and Sacha Huard de La Marre take home the title. Victor Caby and Louis Cacheux, of course, leave with regrets.

But this U16 final will have above all offered  the first real thriller of this week's French Youth Championships. 

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovered padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since then, padel has been part of his life. You often see him touring France to cover major French padel events.

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