France & Germany win Potter Cup and Two Presidents’ Cup titles

France’s men’s and Germany’s ladies’ teams are the champions of the 48^th Potter Cup and IV Two Presidents’ Cup respectively, after the competitions were held in Barcelona during the weekend of October 21-24, 2021.

35 years on from their last title, France held aloft the trophy after beating Italy 4/3 in a gruelling final that could have gone either way. With France leading 3/2 after the five singles matches, Italy levelled the tie with the first doubles match, a convincing win for Marcelo Charpentier & Lorenzo Pennisi. This set the stage for a deciding doubles match, won by Rodolphe Gilbert & Christophe Gibiard 7-6(3) 6-1 over Roberto Pertosa & Andrea Monti.

Playing at the RC Polo, the two teams had identical paths to the final, dropping just one match in each of their opening two ties. Italy beat Great Britain and Germany in the top half of the draw. Seeded second, France overcame the USA and the hosts and defending champions, Spain.

The IC Spain team eventually finished in fourth place. Captained by Santiago Tintore, it included Jordi Mas, Alex Lopez Moron, Xavier Llucià, Marc Becker, Oriol Molina, Antonio Diaz de las Casas and David Pons.

World Champions Germany arrived as top seeds and favourites to win the ladies’ IV Two Presidents’ Cup title that had been in the hands of the hosts since its first edition in 2018. They eventually won all three of their matches (against Spain B, Great Britain and, in the final, Spain) with a decisive 2/0 score line.

The final produced the match of the tournament, in which Germany’s world #1 of the Over 40s category Manon Kruse was forced to battle hard against Spain’s Gisela Riera before eventually securing a 6-3 5-7 7-6(6) win. Gitte Müller beat Cristina Fontelles for the loss of just one game in the other singles match, securing Germany an insurmountable 2/0 win. 

The IC Spain women’s team was rounded off by Eva Bes and Neus Avila, and for its part had beaten Belgium and Italy at the RCT Barcelona-1899, before the ladies’ competition moved to the RC Polo for the finals.

A total of 15 teams – 8 men’s and 7 ladies’ – were in action over the weekend. The official dinner saw the players and captains express their gratitude - for the organisation and for the work carried out by the late IC President, Juan Maria Tintoré. The IC Spain in return thanked the players for showing their commitment to the event.

In line with tradition, the tournament also staged its popular tennis clinic for players with intellectual disabilities from the ACELL Federation, who took the opportunity to play alongside Potter Cup participants during the on-court session.

In addition to the two hosting clubs, the Potter Cup was supported by the Federació Catalana de Tennis, the IC Council, the Ajuntament de Barcelona, the Consell Català de l’Esport and the Real Federación Española de Tenis.