Clara Mansart and Marie-Amélie Dardaine  will be there for the meeting  semi-finals of the 2026 French Championships But their qualification was far from easy. After a tense quarter-final, both players admitted they hadn't played their best padel, especially in the second set where they allowed their opponents back into the game.

However, the essentials are assured:  a place in the final four , the third for Dardaine and the very first for Mansart. And now, the context changes completely. Facing the competition's top favorites,  Carla Touly and Léa Godallier They will be able to play freely, with much less pressure.

"We certainly didn't make things easy for ourselves."

 You just came through a particularly close quarter-final. What are your thoughts on this match? 

 Marie-Amélie Dardaine: 
It was an incredibly close match. I think we really didn't make things easy for ourselves. We were leading with a break in the second set and we could have held onto it. We relaxed a bit at that point.

 Clara Mansart: 
Tactically, we knew what to do, but we were a bit tense. As a result, we weren't necessarily targeting the right areas. We played far too much to their forehand and allowed them to regain possession at the net too easily.

I really think we made the match harder for ourselves. Personally, I'm not entirely satisfied with my performance. The first set was okay, but the second one was much less so.

"We felt a little oppressed."

 Did you also notice a difference in the playing conditions on this track? 

 Clara Mansart: 
Yes. I find the terrain is faster than on the black runs we played on before. It's quicker.

And since the girls we were facing played quite fast, it caused us some problems. On the FIP circuit, we've gotten used to often being the ones setting the pace. The players defend more, so we generally have a bit more time.

There, we felt a bit oppressed. That's perhaps precisely something we need to work on: when we come back to play in France and things move faster, we need to be able to manage these situations better.

A third semi-final for Dardaine, a first for Mansart

 Despite everything, you've reached the semi-finals of the French Championships. How many times have you reached this stage of the competition? 

 Marie-Amélie Dardaine: 
This is my third semi-final.

 Clara Mansart: 
And for me, it's my first time!

This qualification therefore has a special flavor for Mansart, while Dardaine returns to a stage of the competition that it already knows.

But this time, the challenge that awaits them is immense:  Carla Touly and Léa Godallier , the overwhelming favorites for these French Championships.

"One last step"

 You have now achieved your objective regarding your position in the draw. Will this allow you to play with more freedom in the semi-final? 

 Clara Mansart: 
What I said to Marie was:  "One last step." 

We had a tough draw. We almost lost against Soussou and Liji yesterday. I think we did the job so far. Now, against Carla and Léa, we're just going to try to play and enjoy ourselves.

"We have nothing to lose."

 Marie-Amélie Dardaine: 
It's going to be great, we can't wait. We have nothing to lose in this semi-final and we're going to give it our all.

I hope we can play a bit more relaxed than we did in the quarter-final. There, we were kind of the favorites and we made things difficult for ourselves. But the semi-final is a different game altogether. So we're starting from scratch.

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovered padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since then, padel has been part of his life. You often see him touring France to cover major French padel events.

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