Soubrié and Martin take the number 2 seed and advance to the final in Dakar

Very good performance of Charlotte Soubrié et Melissa Martin au FIP Bronze Dakar The French women qualified for the final after pulling off a major upset in the semi-final against the tournament's second seed. Dora Chamli et Anastasiia Ryzhova , respectively 126th and 133rd in the world.

A victory of character achieved by a score of 6 / 3 7 / 6 , which confirms the excellent tournament achieved by the French pair.

A perfectly controlled tournament

Before this semi-final, the French women had already displayed a very high level of play. In the quarter-final, they had given their opponents no chance. Marina Fakhry et Lamia Dayel Niang swept away 6 / 1 6 / 1 .

Against Chamli and Ryzhova, the opposition was of a completely different caliber. In particularly difficult conditions, with intense heat and high humidity, every point had to be fought for.

Soubrié and Martin made a perfect start to their match by winning the first set 6/3 , thanks to great resilience in important moments.

The second set was much more closely contested. Tunisian Dora Chamli confirmed her status while Russian Ryzhova raised her level of play, making the task even more difficult for the French players.

But Charlotte Soubrié and Mélissa Martin showed great mental fortitude. Supported by many Senegalese spectators who were firmly on their side, they held firm in the tense moments to finally make the difference in the tie-break and secure their place in the final.

A final against the favorites

To clinch the title, the French women will now have to achieve another feat.

In the final, they will face the seeded 1 , made of Ainize Santamaria Landa (104th in the world) and the Portuguese Clarinha Santos (122th in the world).

On paper, Soubrié and Martin are not the favorites. But after their excellent semi-final and their solid performance since the beginning of the week, the French women arrive with maximum confidence.

The objective now will be to confirm this momentum and to seek a first FIP Bronze title for both players.

Benjamin Dupouy

I discovered padel directly during a tournament, and frankly, I didn't really like it at first. But the second time, it was love at first sight, and since then, I haven't missed a single match. I'm even ready to stay up until 3am to watch a final of Premier Padel !