Collombon keeps French hopes alive with Bordeaux comeback win

Alix Collombon kept the French flag flying in Bordeaux by outlasting Jana Montes and Lucía Sainz 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 in 2 hours and 48 minutes at the Patinoire de Bordeaux Mériadeck. The comeback mattered beyond one scoreboard line: Sainz and Montes held three match points before Collombon and Ksenia Sharifova escaped, leaving Collombon as the only French woman still standing in the draw.

That result sharpened the pressure on the local favorite. FIP ranked Collombon 37th in late June, making her France’s best player in the field, and her place in the Round of 16 turned her into the home nation’s last major reference point as Bordeaux’s opening round emptied out around her. Sharifova, ranked 36th by FIP and born in Sakhalin, matched her through the tense finish, and the pair’s resilience gave the tournament one of its most gripping early moments.

The rest of the French challenge fell quickly. Léa Godallier and Daiara Valenzuela were beaten 6-3, 7-5 by Bea Caldera and Carmen Goenaga, while Dylan Guichard and Clément Geens lost 6-4, 6-4 to Jairo Bautista and Íñigo Jofre. Yoan Boronad and Timeo Fonteny were halted 6-0, 6-2 by Alex Chozas and Valentino Libaak, a run of results that made Collombon’s escape feel even heavier as a national storyline.

Bordeaux now turns toward the seeded round, where the balance of power should shift sharply. Premier Padel had the top four men’s seeds and all eight seeded women’s pairs due to enter on Thursday, and the round of 32 structure was always designed to thin the field before the favorites arrived. In a third edition staged at the Bordeaux Mériadeck ice rink from June 28 to July 5, that change in rhythm is exactly what Collombon faces next: a home crowd leaning on one French player while the tournament’s biggest names prepare to reclaim center stage.

Elsewhere in the men’s bracket, the hierarchy held firm. Coki Nieto and Jon Sanz won 6-3, 6-2, Paquito Navarro and Martín Di Nenno rolled 6-0, 6-1, and Javi Leal with Fran Guerrero recovered from a first-set deficit to beat Tolito Aguirre and Rama Valenzuela 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Momo González and Lucas Campagnolo also survived, while Tello and Arce, Maxi Sánchez and Xisco Gil, Enzo Jensen and David Gala, and Mario Ortega and Víctor Ruiz all advanced, giving Bordeaux the shape of a draw steadily bending back toward the seeded order.