POITIERS, October 31, 2021 (by Stuart Williams)

The day was one of expectation for five of the six players due to compete in the singles or doubles final at the Internationaux Feminins de la Vienne in Poitiers. All, except Britain’s Samantha Murray Sharan, who won the doubles event at the ITF W80 in Cagnes-sur-Mer last year, had the opportunity to claim the biggest title of their careers.

After the singles final it was Chloe Paquet, the fourth seed, who was able to celebrate following her 6-4, 6-3 win over Simona Waltert in one hour 16 minutes.

As the first set progressed Paquet began to impose more and more pressure on her opponent. Hers was a very strong serving performance throughout and the Frenchwoman was able to break Waltert at 5-4 to take the set after Waltert had previously saved three set points.

In the second set Waltert’s error count started to increase and she failed to take the break point opportunities available to her. Paquet’s confidence grew and she surged to a 5-1 lead. Although there was a late rally from her Swiss opponent the winner held her nerve and served it out at 5-3.

The win lifts Paquet to a projected new career high singles ranking of World No. 126. This will give her added confidence as she heads to Nantes for the ITF World Tennis Tour W60 event being held there this week. Waltert can also be proud of achieving a projected new career high ranking of World No. 213.

The doubles title was won by Mariam Bolkvadze and Murray Sharan. They beat Audrey Albie and Leolia Jeanjean 7-6, 6-0. After a tightly fought first set the errors from the French pair mounted and the Georgian-British combination asserted control and raced to victory.