(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
The surname Coton or le Coton has been prevalent among those in the textile trades in France as early as the 12th century – long before the French colonists started promoting cotton cultivation in their protectorate of Tunisia. Why the quick history lesson? – Well, this week a WTT Contender Series event was played in Tunis, and the winner was a young Frenchman named Coton.
Flavien Coton is another strong, young French player. At the age of 17, he is already having an impact on the tour – and entering as World No. 26, the win here provides him with 400 ranking point which likely moves him into the Top 20. That jump moves him ahead of Simon Gauzy, making Coton the third highest ranked Frenchman (behind the Lebrun brothers).
It took Coton two matches to get rolling, falling behind to Andrei Putuntica before winning 3-1 and then twice trailing to Jules Rolland before eventually winning 3-2. From that point forward, this was the Flavien Coton show – a 3-0 Semifinal win over Maharu Yoshimura, and a 4-1 Finals win over Hiroto Shinozuka. The other semifinalist was Portugal’s Joao Geraldo who was a Wildcard entry, but managed upset wins over Feng Yi-Hsin and Manush Shah before narrowly losing to Semifinalist Shinozuka.
In the Women’s draw, top seeded Joo Cheonhui spread just one loss over four matches on her way to the Final, but that 12-1 record didn’t hold up against Russian Elizabet Abraamian in the Final. Abraamian had the opposite script with her fight to the Final – narrowly winning 3-2 over Yuan Wan, narrowly winning 3-2 over Kyoka Idesawa, narrowly defeating Nina Mellelham 3-2 in the Quarters, narrowly topping Maria Xiao 3-2 in the Semis, and then a Finals win that involved coming back from 1-3 to win 4-3.
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