Coton and Poret hope to continue their rise on the world stage

France has a contented of producing world-class men’s singles array tennis players. Among the large stars are Jean-Philippe Gatien, the Olympic metallic and World Championship golden medalist, portion Emmanuel Lebesson and Simon Gauzy person been European champions.

Today, the spotlight is connected the Lebrun brothers — Felix (World No. 6) and Alexis (No. 14) — who are rapidly establishing themselves among the world’s elite. Backed by a beardown home array tennis culture, France continues to nurture emerging talent. And the latest additions to this formidable line-up are Flavien Coton (No. 32) and the 21-year-old Thibault Poret (No. 35).

Last twelvemonth proved to beryllium a breakthrough for some Coton and Poret arsenic they recorded career-best performances with the metropolis of Chennai playing a pivotal role.

At the WTT Star Contender past March, Coton reached the semifinals, portion Poret precocious each the mode to the rubric clash, yet losing to South Korea’s Oh Junsung.

Coton and Poret are yet to marque a heavy tally this year, and some are banking connected the WTT Star Contender, acceptable to statesman astatine the Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University present connected Thursday.

Coton fondly recalls his 2025 campaign.

“It was an astonishing year. I started with a satellite ranking of 109 and finished wrong the top-30,” said the 17-year-old, who besides became the archetypal Frenchman to triumph the European u-21 Championships the aforesaid year.

“Winning against 3 top-32 players — Alvaro Robles, Sora Matsushima, and Jonathan Groth — gave maine confidence. I had been playing good before, but I couldn’t adjacent retired matches.”

For Poret, Chennai holds peculiar memories. “I came present with truthful overmuch ambition and I reached the final. This year, I anticipation to triumph the title,” helium said.

Both were portion of the French squad that won golden astatine the 2025 European Championships and could marque their debut astatine the World Team Championships successful London during April and May.

“We anticipation to beryllium selected for the Worlds,” said Coton and Poret and they anticipation Chennai sets the code for their continued emergence connected the satellite stage.

Neha knocks retired apical effect Syndrela

Neha Kumari, who produced the biggest upset successful the women’s WTT Star Contender Qualifiers by knocking retired apical effect Syndrela Das successful the 2nd round, sealed her spot successful the main gully connected Wednesday with a 5-11, 13-11, 11-5, 11-7 triumph implicit Naisha Rewaskar successful the last round. All the seeded (top-16) players person been handed byes successful the opening circular of the singles events.

The Qualifiers: Men: Ankur Bhattacharjee, Punit Biswas, Yashansh Malik, Sanil Shetty, Carlo Rossi (Italy), Jash Modi, Mudit Dani, Preyesh Suresh Raj.

Women: Neha Kumari, Amrutha Pushpak, Nithya Mani, Tanishka Kalbhairav, Suhana Saini, Shruti Amrute, Sachi Aoka (Japan), S. Yashini.