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Camden Riviere returns to the French Open as the overwhelming favourite once again, having missed the previous edition due to the clash with the World Championship in Newport. Riviere has not lost a match in Paris since 2013, and hasn’t lost a set since 2014. The bouncy court means that Riviere’s extreme retrieval and excellent hands will make ending points against him very difficult, even for the world’s best. An overall win would put Riviere on track for a third calendar-year grand slam, with just the British Open still to play.

Riviere’s main challenger for the title will be the second seed, John Lumley. Lumley goes to Paris seeking a career grand slam, having won the other Opens at least once. Lumley’s form in Paris is something of an unknown, having not played in France since 2022. He and Riviere have also not played against each other in Paris since 2017, well before Lumley’s rise towards the top of the real tennis rankings. Should a rematch with Riviere arise again, it would be their third meeting of the year, with Riviere having won six of the previous seven sets played. Riviere and Lumley will team up for the doubles, where they also enter as favourites.

Defending champion Steve Virgona also returns, drawn to play Riviere in the semi-finals. Virgona remains locked with Ben Taylor-Matthews in the battle for the fourth Eliminator slot in the World Race, with the latter drawn into Lumley in the semi-finals. Since Virgona trails Taylor-Matthews, he needs to go further in the competition to make up points. Par for each player will be reaching a semi-final, and Virgona has the easier path through the quarter-finals, due to play the winner of Lewis Williams and Darren Long. Taylor-Matthews will likely have a tricky quarter-final versus Bryn Sayers, against whom he only has a 1-in-4 win record. However, Taylor-Matthews also a higher chance of reaching the final as he has already proven he can defeat Lumley in this World Race cycle.

World number 8 Sayers remains the best-placed dark-horse, with a first-round match-up against Benedict Yorston followed by a likely quarter-final against Taylor-Matthews. His draw is kinder than world number seven’s, Robert Shenkman’s, who is lining up for a quarter-final against Riviere. The British Amateur champion only took two games off the World Champion in their last encounter in Chicago in March, making a dream run unlikely, despite the recent advances in his game.

More at threat is the seventh and eighth seeds, Lewis Williams and Nino Merola, who have drawn tough first-round matches against Darren Long and Vaughan Hamilton, respectively. Williams and Long are separated by just 1.5 points on handicap, and their only previous encounter in an Open singles match went the full five sets. Merola, meanwhile, makes his French Open debut, while Hamilton pushed Nick Howell to five sets in the last edition. Both have had strong seasons, and were the successful qualifiers at the most recent Champions Trophy, with Hamilton the favourite on handicap by 1.4 points.

The other non-seeded players have a tough road ahead. Levi Gale is due to return to competition for the first time since January, but has a first-round roadblock in John Lumley. Bathurst Cup teammates Benedict Yorston and Bertie Vallat also have difficult first-round matches against Sayers and Virgona, respectively. Yorston and Sayers have no head-to-head record, while Vallat lost to Virgona in the same fixture in 2026. The remaining chance for an early upset is Zak Eadle, who, after a strong season, will face his Bristol predecessor, Taylor-Matthews, in the first round, though the latter won in straight sets in their previous encounter in Newport.

The qualifying draw is the largest in French Open history, with ten competitors fighting it out for two qualification places. The favourites for qualification are Henry Henman and Erik Barker, the latter making his first senior Open appearance in Europe. Qualification is not a guarantee for either player. Henman must first play the winner following the match between Archie Campbell and Charlie Hurstel, and then either Neil Mackenzie or Jack Josephs, both of whom have previously spent time working at Paris. Barker, meanwhile, will await the winner of Clément Depreeuw and Jim Ludekens. Should Barker win, he will face either Nicolas Victoir or Rhys Williams, with the latter’s recent Parisian experience being a deciding game thriller in the Bathurst Cup against Depreeuw. Unlike the remainder of the competition, the qualifications will be played with the pass rule.

In the doubles competition, former World Champions Robert Fahey and Steve Virgona reunite again for the second time since their loss to Riviere and Tim Chisholm. They last joined forces at the 2024 British Open, but never reached their full potential owing to a calf injury to Fahey. They enter as second seeds, while the first seeds, Riviere and Lumley, will attempt to retake the title they last won together in 2022.

The doubles quarter-finals promise tough competition. Long time duos Taylor-Matthews and Sayers, and Gale and Williams will battle it out in one quarter-final, a rematch of the British Open doubles from 2025 which saw Taylor-Matthews and Sayers through in a fifth set. On the other side of the draw, Henman once again joins forces with Merola, while Shenkman starts a new partnership with Hamilton. All four are dynamic doubles players, and on a court where it is notoriously difficult to kill the ball, all will need to be on top form to win the best-of-5 set contest. The top two seeds both face quarter-finals against qualifiers. In one qualifier, the British pair of Darren Long and Bertie Vallat are favoured over the French pair of Nicolas Victoir and Michel Brunoro, while on the other side, Benedict Yorston joins forces with Eric Barker to play Zak Eadle and Neil Mackenzie.

In the women’s draw, no players who played the recent Bathurst Cup will return to Paris for the French Open. Instead, the tournament is headlined by Claire Fahey and her sister Sarah Vigrass. Fahey arrives in Paris having won every Open since the 2023 British Open, as well as every French Open since 2016. For Vigrass, it is her first Open tournament since the 2024 British Open. The sisters have not faced off in an Open final since the 2019 British Open, last meeting in the World Championships in Fontainebleau in 2022. They are joined by a travelling party from America, featuring Newport’s Amy Wintersteen, and Aiken’s Claire Voegele and Kadi Meldrum. The Aiken duo will pair up for the doubles, while Wintersteen joins Oxford’s Grace Beglan. Fahey and Vigrass receive a bye directly into the final.

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Order of play:

• Wednesday 23 September:

  • 5:00 PM: Clément Depreeuw vs Jim Ludekens

  • 7:00 PM: Archie Campbell vs Charlie Hurstel

• Thursday 24 September:

  • 9:00 AM: Erik Barker vs Winner Depreeuw/Ludekens

  • 11:00 AM: Rhys Williams vs Nicolas Victoir

  • 1:00 PM: Neil Mackenzie vs Jack Josephs

  • 3:00 PM: Winner Campbell/Hurstel vs Henry Henman

  • 5:00 PM: Winner Barker/Depreeuw/Ludekens vs Winner Williams/Victoir

  • 7:00 PM: Winner Mackenze/Josephs vs Winner Campbell/Hurstel/Henman

• Friday 25 September:

  • 11:00 AM: Darren Long & Bertie Vallat vs Nicolas Victoir & Michel Brunoro

  • 1:00 PM: Benedict Yorston & Eric Barker vs Neil Mackenzie & Zak Eadle

• Sunday 27 September:

  • 9:30 AM: Qualifier 1 vs Robert Shenkman

  • 12:00 PM: Lewis Williams vs Darren Long

  • 2:30 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews vs Zak Eadle

  • 5:00 PM: Camden Riviere vs Qualifier 2

• Monday 28 September:

  • 9:00 AM: Levi Gale vs John Lumley

  • 11:30 AM: Benedict Yorston vs Bryn Sayers

  • 5:00 PM: Bertie Vallat vs Steve Virgona

  • 7:30 PM: Nino Merola vs Vaughan Hamilton

• Tuesday 29 September:

  • 10:00 AM: Winner Riviere/Q2 vs Winner Q1/Shenkman

  • 11:30 AM: Winner Williams/Long vs Winner Vallat/Virgona

  • 4:30 PM: Winner Gale/Lumley vs Winner Merola/Hamilton

  • 7:00 PM: Winner Taylor-Matthews/Eadle vs Winner Yorston/Sayers

• Wednesday 30 September:

  • 10:00 AM: John Lumley & Camden Riviere vs Qualifier 1

  • 1:00 PM: Qualifier 2 vs Robert Fahey & Steve Virgona

  • 4:00 PM: Lewis Williams & Levi Gale vs Bryn Sayers & Ben Taylor-Matthews

  • 7:00 PM: Robert Shenkman & Vaughan Hamilton vs Nino Merola & Henry Henman

• Thursday 1 October:

  • 1:00 PM: Amy Wintersteen vs Claire Voegele

  • 4:00 PM: Men’s singles semi-final 1

  • 7:00 PM: Men’s singles semi-final 2

• Friday 2 October:

  • 10:00 AM: Claire Fahey vs Winner Wintersteen/Voegele

  • 11:30 AM: Kadi Meldrum vs Sarah Vigrass

  • 1:00 PM: Men’s doubles semi-final 1

  • 4:00 PM: Men’s doubles semi-final 2

• Saturday 3 October:

  • 2:30 PM: Women’s singles final

  • 4:00 PM: Men’s singles final

  • 7:00 PM: Amy Wintersten & Grace Beglan vs Kadi Meldrum & Claire Voegele

• Sunday 4 October:

  • 1:30 PM: Women’s doubles final (Claire Fahey & Sarah Vigrass vs Winner Wintersteen & Beglan vs Meldrum & Voegele)

  • 3:00 PM: Men’s doubles final

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The girls’ final was fought between the top two seeds: defending champion Katherine Carney and challenger Riya Bharwad. The first game was the tightest, with a tentative Carney hitting several unforced errors as the players battled through seven deuces. Carney walked away the winner, and quickly settled into a more confident game, pushing Bharwad into the corners to rack up the points. Bharwad’s best response was to cut the return of serve deep onto Carney’s forehand, regularly laying short chases. But there were also enough balls onto the penthouse or back wall that gave Carney easy balls to put away, which she did with aplomb. Towards the end of the second set, Carney could sense the finish line approaching, winning two games without losing a point to go to 5/0. Bharwad held off a few championship points, but Carney’s title defence was never in doubt.

After an hour’s break, the boys’ final took to the court: fourth seed Philadelphian Jonah Serotta against fifth seed Oratonian Archie Watson. Again, both had a tentative start in front of a packed Seacourt gallery, with barely a spare seat in the house. Serotta was the first to settle, controlling the play from the service end. His railroads were a good length, either rolling out of the nick or spinning back as the balls finally wore in. He built a three-game lead, but by then it was clear that the crowd were on the side of Watson. Serotta had three set points in the 5/3 game, but by now Watson was seeing it like a beach-ball, picking out volleys with ease and putting Serotta under pressure for the first time. The crowd sensed it too, cheering on Watson as he saved each set point then took the next game to love, without conceding a chase, thereby sending the set into a deciding game.

Watson opened the decider with a grille, before Serotta got on top of the following two serves, earning a stroke and a dedans. However, he put the next return high, giving the advantage back to Watson who manoeuvered the rally until he could hit the base of the tambour. A longer reste followed, before a ball off the penthouse came down tight to the side wall and Watson could do no more than put it into the net. Now on his fourth set point, Serotta defended the tambour until a ball rolled out of the service-side nick, earning a short chase which he defended with a tight railroad.

Even though he was now a set behind, Watson’s comeback through the first set carried on into the second, especially with the crowd forming a helpful tailwind. He gave Serotta’s backhand a real workout, finding that he could always find a better exit to the backhand exchanges than the American. To take the second game of the set, Watson defended the winning gallery with a volley winner that sent him jumping into the centre of the court in celebration. The moment and the crowd spurred him on to win the following two games. The play tightened up for the fifth and sixth games, but Watson was able to deprive Serotta of enough of the service end to push ahead. He reached 5/2, though this time it was Serotta’s turn to mount a comeback. Watson’s shots were loose, giving Serotta plenty of opportunities to put the ball away. The American brought the scoreline back to 4/5, but Watson wasn’t keen for another deciding game. A few crisp volleys later, and Watson had levelled up the match at 1-all.

Into the third set and Watson remained in control of the play, going into the lead for the first time in the match. With the game slipping away from him, Serotta felt aggrieved by two back-to-back chase calls that went against him. He tried to use the frustration to his advantage, but Watson was surging ahead backed by his grille hitting. He went up 4/1 and was within touching distance of the finish line, but Serotta never gave in. He kept fighting hard, never giving away errors and forcing Watson to have to win every point. In the seventh game, Watson went ahead 40-0, but Serotta’s defences held. A few deuces later, Serotta slotted the ball down Watson’s forehand side to stay alive in the match, holding his fist aloft in celebration. The job was not yet done, beating a better-than-2 chase to even the score at 4-all. In the next game, Watson dialled up the pace of his force, picking off a dedans and a volley error to move to 5/4. With pressure still mounting on both players, Serotta threw in a pair of tight serves to go ahead again before again defeating a short chase, this time jumping in the air in celebration as the championship went into a deciding game.

Watson held the serve, but an off-pace force drew an immediate volley error to give the first point to Serotta. His next force was high, ballooning up into the air and giving Watson an opening to hit the main-wall tambour. The following shot was the same, but this time going out of court. The next two restes both ended in last gallery length chases, once off the back wall and once dribbling over the net. Serotta won the first with a ball dying under the grille that Watson couldn’t lift over the net. On the second, Serotta’s second serve bobble was fractionally too long, rolling back up onto the back penthouse and around for a double fault. He dropped to his haunches, letting his racket fall to the floor, as Watson had championship point. Serotta threw in his side-wall serve, with both players having to dig out difficult balls tucked against the wall in the resultant rally. A ball on the penthouse drew Serotta out of position, unable to get his backhand around enough towards the tambour. Watson stood waiting, volleying the ball past a diving Serotta into the dedans. Watson turned to his supporters in the galleries with his hands in the air, letting out an almighty roar before embracing his opponent at the net.

Watson becomes the fourth holder of the World Junior Championships since its reincarnation in 2018, and the third British winner after Max Warner and Max Trueman. Carney’s title makes her the first player in either competition to win multiple World Junior titles. The next edition is expected to be held in 2028 in the United States.

Match results:

• 12:00 PM: Katherine Carney (1) def Riya Bharwad (2) 6/0 6/0

• 2:00 PM: Jonah Serotta (4) lost to Archie Watson (5) 6/5 4/6 5/6

31 August: An earlier version of this article stated that Watson was the second American winner of the tournament. It should have said he was the third British winner of the tournament.

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The first match of the morning was the girl’s semi-final between Georgia Toosey, and first seed and defending champion, Katherine Carney. It was a nervy start for Carney, who took her time experimenting with different serves to find something that stuck. Toosey knew that she needed a strong start to be able to challenge Carney, so struck early, picking off Carney’s volley to get the lead. At 2-all, a wayward serve from Carney struck the net post, disturbing the net height and resulting in a five-minute delay as the height was restored. On the resumption, Carney improved her serving, getting the advantage in the rally early and patiently waiting for a mistake from Toosey, and going ahead 4/2. Still, the Wellingtonian did not give in, defending the service end well and almost taking the score to 4-all, with a full stretch volley in front of the tambour. But Carney beat the resultant chase, going on to take the first set moments later. Toosey had the stronger start to the second set, maintaining a small lead before Carney finally settled into the play. Carney’s service return improved and Toosey’s resistance wilted. Carney won the last five games, securing her place in the final.

The only boy’s semi-final of the day was between defending champion and first seed, Max Warner, and the American challenger and fourth seed, Jonah Serotta. Serotta took the attack to Warner immediately, throwing in some big cut-volleys to knock Warner completely off his drag serve. Warner then spent the early stages of the set exploring other serves, but Serotta had an answer to all of them. Anything hit long was routinely dispatched into a main-wall dedans, leaving Warner defenseless on his backhand side. But it was his service-end play that really pushed Serotta ahead. His serving was tight, both on the railroad and the side-wall, meaning Warner could only spoon the ball back to Serotta’s backhand. Serotta was fired up, throwing a fist in the air after every point he won, even doing a 360-degree jump in celebration after going 4/1 up. At set point at 5/1, Serotta got perhaps a little too excited, charging the hazard galleries while playing a chase even though the ball was down Warner’s forehand side. It mattered little, as a few moments later he took the first set with a ball slammed into the winning gallery.

Warner took the first game of the second set, identifying that he needed to maintain the service end as much as possible to stay in the contest. Serotta largely ignored the galleries, giving Warner the majority of the serve. Even so, Serotta pushed him from side-to-side, and punished any serve high on the back wall with dedans after dedans. He went 5/1 up but then the nerves set in. Warner dug deep, fighting hard to stay in contention and mounting a comeback. He refound the grille, having gone a set-and-a-half without hitting his favourite square target. Warner won three straight games, and it wasn’t clear where Serotta’s final game was coming from. But the Philadelphian refound his form, kept beating the short chases, and finishing the match with a railroad that stuck to the battery wall. Jubliant, he secured his place in Sunday’s final.

The second girl’s semi-final pitted Royal Tennis Court’s Martha Raitt against Cambridge’s second seed Riya Bharwad. Bharwad took immediate control of the match with her slower, shorter railroads which spun back for the first time in the week. It earned her several aces as she made her way to a 4/1 lead, but Raitt was able to adjust and battle back. Raitt’s side-walls and African hunting dog serves caught Raitt in two minds between volleying and taking off the back, generating several errors as the match devolved into a battle to lay chases and control the service end. Raitt brough the score back to 3/4, but an untimely double fault gave Bharwad the next game. Bharwad saw six set points come and go before finally converting. She took the confidence into the next set, stretching out a three game lead, but Raitt’s serving continued to cause trouble for the Cantabridgian. Raitt won the next three games, bringing the match back to equality. Bharwad had to put an extra bit of pace back into her railroad to win through the final three games and book her place in the final to play Carney.

Fifth seed, Archie Watson, received a bye through to the final, as his prospective opponent, second seed, Algernon Nottingham, was disqualified from the tournament due to an off-court incident.

The tournament concludes on Sunday with both the boy’s and girl’s finals.

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Match results:

• 10:00 AM: Katherine Carney (1) def Georgia Toosey 6/3 6/2

• 12:00 PM: Max Warner (1) lost to Jonah Serotta (4) 2/6 4/6

• 2:00 PM: Martha Raitt lost to Riya Bharwad (2) 3/6 3/6

• 4:00 PM: Archie Watson (5) def Algernon Nottingham (2) D/Q

Order of play for Sunday:

• 12:00 PM: Katherine Carney (1) vs Riya Bharwad (2)

• 2:00 PM: Jonah Serotta (4) vs Archie Watson (5)

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The first match of the morning — and the third of the competition — was the girl’s quarter-final between Queens Club’s Isabella Wylie and the Royal Tennis Court’s Martha Raitt. Raitt took control of the match early with her wide variety of serves, immediately catching Wylie out on the backfoot. She quickly established a two-game lead, before Wylie started to play into the game a little better. Even so, Raitt’s volleys were clean and crisp, resulting in several winners low over the net. Though Wylie was able to find chases, Raitt’s vice-grip on points from the service end were enough to see her through the first set. Early in the second, Wylie stretched out for a big forehand, with the ball hitting the frame and snapping the head clean off her racket handle. She stood for a moment in shock, while the crowd could see the amusing side. Switching to a new bat, she went toe-to-toe with Raitt for the next few games, before Raitt was able to stretch out a lead again. She finished the match with a nick-railroad, moving on to play Riya Bharwad in the semi-finals.

The other quarter-final match in the morning was between the Wellington pair of Zoe Neville and Georgia Toosey. With Neville playing several bands above her age category, challenging the older, taller and stronger Toosey was always going to be a tough ask. Still, she was putting away the slower balls well and earning several winners with her double handed top-spin backhand. Toosey kept the pressure on with her railroads, keeping the pace of the ball high to keep troubling Neville. Toosey never let up, easily securing the first set before Neville mustered some resistance for the second. Neville battled to 3-all before Toosey started broke away once again, reaching match point at 5/3. Neville calmly batted it away with a ball onto the base of the tambour. Neville had a point to force a deciding game, but Toosey held her nerve, securing her progression to the semi-finals to play first seed Katherine Carney.

Friday will see the conclusion of the plate draws for the boys and girls championships, with the main draw resuming on Saturday with all four semi-finals. The tournament concludes on Sunday.

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Match results:

• 10:15 AM: Martha Raitt def Isabella Wylie 6/2 6/2

• 11:30 AM: Zoe Neville lost to Georgia Toosey 0/6 4/6

Order of play for Saturday:

• 10:00 AM: Katherine Carney (1) vs Georgia Toosey

• 12:00 PM: Max Warner (1) vs Jonah Serotta (4)

• 2:00 PM: Martha Raitt vs Riya Bharwad (2)

• 4:00 PM: Archie Watson (5) vs Algernon Nottingham (2)

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Local wildcard Dan Morgan was first on court, playing the American fourth seed Jonah Serotta. Despite his impressive win over Saussier the previous day, the quality of Serotta’s play was too much for Morgan. The Philadelphian was composed, keeping the pace out of his strokeplay and focusing instead of placement and precision. Morgan fought all the way through, with his most productive strokes coming from boasting the ball into the dedans. Even so, Serotta controlled the match from start to finish, using it as an opportunity to test out some serves for the tougher matches to follow later in the week, cruising to a double-bagel victory.

The most anticipated match of the round was between third seed Robert Blizzard and fifth seed Archie Watson. Watson was defensively solid, barely giving away a chase over the opening exchanges to break out an early lead. Blizzard’s attacks were neturalised, eventually resulting in him overextending and opening the door to a Watson counterattack. Blizzard was apoplectic that a shot he’d thought he’d struck into the grille was declared to have struck the bandeau, giving Watson a key advantage in the set. With advantage to Watson, a chase worse-than-2 was declared a chase off, but Blizzard graciously conceded the point, and a 1/4 deficit, to Watson. The lead proved decisive, with Watson forcing his way to take the set.

Watson was more the aggressor in the second set, pressing hard against the tambour and making Blizzard have to fight ro every point. Though Blizzard’s retrieval off the tambour was strong, it was rarely enough to wrestle back control of the reste. From the service end, however, Blizzard, was increasingly strong: setting up each point with a tight drag serve and covering the court exceptionally well. The sixth and seventh games saw some of the best rallies of the tournament so far, with desparate defending from both players at both ends of the court. They battled to a draw, passing through 3-all and 4-all. Blizzard broke away first, beating a short chase to bring up a couple of set points, but missed the final conversion by a foot on the floor on the next chase. Watson used the service end to send the set into a deciding game instead. Blizzard lay two chases early, but at last gallery and a hazard they were straightforward for Watson to attack. He won both, then sealed the match with a main-wall dedans, sending him into the semi-finals.

The afternoon saw first seed Max Warner take on the unseeded American Paul Nieuwerburgh. Warner was a class above, putting Nieuwerburgh immedaitely under pressure with his unrelenting strokeplay. Nieuwerburgh used his long reach to good effect, keeping the ball in play longer than his handicap suggested he had any right to, but he was never able to find any reliable counterplay to Warner. The American picked up a game in each set, but Warner’s progression was never in doubt, locking in a semi-final against Serotta in a rematch of the British Junior Open Under 18’s final.

The last of the boy’s quarter-finals was between Frankie Binns and second seed Algernon Nottingham. Nottingham was looking to attack wherever possible. He was not overly concerned about serving tactics or positional play, meaning Binns was able to stay in the early contest by some excellent retreiving and dead-weight volleys, pouncing on any inaccuracy from Nottingham. Binns had points for a 4/3 lead but couldn’t convert, before Nottingham struck a vein of short underartm twists to take the decisive lead in the set. Nottingham gained the upper hand for the second set, barely letting Binns serve as he quickly built a four-game lead. Binns pared back a game but it was too little, too late. Nottingham secured a semi-final match-up against Archie Watson, a rematch from the quarter-finals of the previous edition.

The evening session saw the start of the girl’s competition, with Rosie Kay taking on second seed Riya Bharwad. Although it was a nervous start, with the first game passing through six deuces, Bharwad quickly settled into a better rythmn. Her serving was key, extracting multiple aces with her railroads and side-walls, and she extract plenty of success with her backhands low over the center of the net. Kay had to battle for her solitary game, coming in the back half of the second set. Even so, it could not stop Bharwad marching into the quarter-final.

The last match of the day saw Eva Thomas take on first seed Katherine Carney. There was little Thomas could do against the very experienced Carney, who dominated the match throughout. Her grille hitting was the highlight from the service end, while her hitting to length was impressive from the hazard end. Carney secured a quick an easy victory, hardly making an error in the match.

Play continues on Thursday with the remaining girl’s quarter-finals. The semi-finals for both competitions takes place on Saturday, with plate matches filling the intervening time.

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Match results:

• 9:00 AM: Daniel Morgan lost to Jonah Serotta (4) 0/6 0/6

• 10:30 AM: Robert Blizzard (3) lost to Archie Watson (5) 2/6 5/6

• 12:00 PM: Max Warner (1) def Paul Nieuwerburgh 6/1 6/1

• 1:30 PM: Frankie Binns lost to Algernon Nottingham (2) 3/6 1/6

• 4:15 PM: Rosie Kay def Riya Bharwad (2) 6/0 6/1

• 5:30 PM: Katherine Carney (1) def Eva Thomas 6/0 6/0

Order of play for Thursday:

• 10:15 AM: Martha Raitt vs Isabella Wylie

• 11:30 AM: Zoe Neville vs Georgia Toosey

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The tournament kicked off with the local wildcard, Daniel Morgan, and France’s Eloi Saussier. Morgan’s hard and flat shots were able to pick off Saussier’s volley, but it also resulted in plenty of balls off the back wall or into hazards. Nonetheless, Morgan’s insistence on playing the shot paid off through the first set, spending most of his time at the hazard end lacing any open ball he could. Saussier adapted to the conditions better by the second set, while Morgan was less disciplined in his tactic. With the match tightening, Morgan picked up his game, throwing in a few thicker boasts and bringing the ball across Saussier’s volley. Morgan pushed through the last two games to score a victory.

The local interest continued with Alex Boulton taking on the American Paul Nieuwerburgh. The opening exchanges were fairly passive. It was Boulton who first took the game on, but Nieuwerburgh was happy to sit back and absorb Boulton’s attacks until Bouton made a mistake, proving very effective on the counter. With his confidence growing Nieuwerburgh opened up more as the set went on. Boulton struggled to find a response to Niuewerburgh’s demi-piques, overextending and finding the net more often than he found chases. After Niuewerburgh took the first set easily, the play tightened for the second set. The fourth game saw nine deuces exchanged each way, eventually seeing Boulton even the score at 2-all. Boulton seized the initiative as a result, winning three of the next four games before a fightback from Nieuwerburgh sent the set into a deciding game. Despite conceding two worse-than-3 chases, Nieuwerburgh held his nerve, earning a chase off before laying a worse-than-a-yard chase himself. Boulton’s force missed low, sending Nieuwerburgh into the quarter-finals.

The first of the seeds, Royal Tennis Court’s Robert Blizzard, was next, playing Radley’s Felix Moffett. Blizzard was calm and controlled, his Sayers-esque backhand proving a natural fit for the hard-cutting Seacourt court. It took until the third game of the second set for Moffett to put a game on the scoreboard, with a sweet-clean volley defending chase worse-than-a-yard. Even so, Blizzard concluded the match swiftly, ensuring his progression.

The next match saw battle between two Americans Elliott Philpott and fourth seed, Jonah Serotta, who a few days prior was the finalist of the British Junior Open Under 18’s. Serotta had everything covered, mopping up anything Philpott sent his way. The Philadelphian was rarely troubled, despite the spirited play from his opponent, moving on to play Morgan in the quarter-finals.

The afternoon session began with Maximillian Ansell playing second seed, Algernon Nottingham. Nottingham was playing the game on fast-forward, serving quickly and looking to belt winners wherever possible. Though Ansell was seeking to make Nottingham pay for his often errant shot choices, Nottingham’s quick hands and clean striking kept getting him out of trouble. Even so, he often telegraphed his shot choices. By the end, Ansell’s tenacity won him a solitary game, but the win to Nottingham was never in doubt.

Australia’s Tom McNamara was next on court, facing fifth seed Archie Watson from the Oratory. Watson was hitting the ball clean, keeping the rallies short and causing McNamara trouble on a relatively unfamiliar court. The Australian dug deep to put in a good showing, but Watson was a class above. The Oratonian’s pace and precision helped him on the way to a convincing victory.

Next, Holyport’s Alexis Besnard challenged Canford’s Frankie Binns. Besnard took the game on, hitting left-handed drives at the dedans to pick up some easy points. Binns dug in, focusing on hitting good areas to make life difficult for Besnard. Besnard’s swings got more wild, flirting with the out of court line on the back wall on several occasions. After taking the first set, Binns settled well into the match for the second, winning it to love.

The last match of the day saw the first seed and recently re-crowned British Under 16’s and 18’s champion Max Warner take on the finalist from the Under 16’s, Kurt Mueller. Warner picked up where he left off two days prior, playing with freedom and control. Mueller was unperturbed, taking the attack to Warner and getting the adulation from the crowd whenever he struck a winner. Nevertheless, Warner’s conversion rate of targets was exceptional, picking off dedans and grilles at will. Mueller had to battle hard for his two games, one more than at Queen’s, but the defending champion progressed otherwise untroubled.

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Play continues on Wednesday with the four quarter-finals, as well as two of the four quarter-finals of the Under 19 Girl’s final.

Match results:

• 9:00 AM: Eloi Saussier lost to Daniel Morgan 3/6 4/6

• 10:15 AM: Alex Boulton lost to Paul Nieuwerburgh 2/6 5/6

• 11:30 AM: Robert Blizzard (3) def Felix Moffett 6/0 6/1

• 12:45 PM: Elliott Philpott lost to Jonah Serotta (4) 0/6 0/6

• 2:00 PM: Maximillian Ansell lost to Algernon Nottingham (2) 0/6 1/6

• 3:15 PM: Tom McNamara lost to Archie Watson (5) 0/6 0/6

• 4:30 PM: Alexis Besnard lost to Frankie Binns 3/6 0/6

• 5:45 PM: Max Warner (1) def Kurt Mueller 6/1 6/1

Order of play for Wednesday (all times BST):

• 9:00 AM: Daniel Morgan vs Jonah Serotta (4)

• 10:30 AM: Robert Blizzard (3) vs Archie Watson (5)

• 12:00 PM: Max Warner (1) vs Paul Nieuwerburgh

• 1:30 PM: Frankie Binns vs Algernon Nottingham (2)

• 4:15 PM: Rosie Kay vs Riya Bharwad (2)

• 5:30 PM: Katherine Carney (1) vs Eva Thomas

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Jack Morgan returned to the Under 12’s final for the second straight year, lining up against the home-court star Matthew Jacobs. The left-handed Jacobs took the first game with the aid of his side-wall serving, but once Morgan got to the service end he quickly got to business. He slotted ball after ball down under the grille, methodically building a lead on the scoreboard.

Jacobs heroically saved match point in the 7/1 game chasing down a wild pique serve, but by then the deficit was too much to overcome. Morgan took the title, upgrading his loss from the previous edition.

The Under 14’s final was an all-Seacourt affair between Dan Morgan, the previous edition’s Under 12’s champion who had aged up a bracket, and Ryan Wallace. Wallace took the early lead, pinning Morgan down on the serve. Morgan had to fight his way out of trouble, often leaning into big, expansive shots to break through. The score drew level at 3-all. Wallace looked as though he would extend a lead again, finding success with some straight forces down the middle of the court. Morgan kept his chances in the set alive with a full stretch volley that scraped back over the net. Wallace returned the favour a few games later. The set went to a deciding game, won by Morgan following a tight series of serves that allowed him to control the rest of the reste.

The second set was tight, with neither player giving an inch. Both were on the attack, with the momentum see-sawing through each point as they sought to capitalise on each other’s errors. Neither held more than a game’s advantage throughout the set, again culminating in a deciding game. This time it was Morgan’s return of serve that bought him the advantage, laying two short chases and bringing up three match points. Wallace struck one chase off, and pulled the next two back with straight forces garnering errors from Morgan. But Morgan held firm, joining his brother in the winner’s column.

Onto the Under 16’s final, with three-time defending champion Max Warner taking on the American Kurt Mueller, who was stepping up into the next bracket having twice won the Under 14’s. Mueller was unafraid to take the game to his better handicapped opponent, maintaining a high court position and picking off whatever volley he could. At times, he seemed to have the upper hand over Warner, who was playing with a little in reserve. Late in the set, Warner looked to put an end to Mueller’s antics, winding up a series of forces to close out the set. By the second set, the impetus had come out of Mueller’s game, with Warner easing his way to a fourth victory.

The Under 18’s Girls final followed, with Rosie Kay playing Isabella Wylie. Wylie was keen to make her home court knowledge felt, putting ball after ball on target to the dedans and testing out Kay’s volley. From the service end, Wylie found plenty of success hitting forehands cross-court. She led the match from start to finish, scoring an upset victory. For her efforts, Wylie was awarded the Nat Duncan award for the best and fairest competitor in the competition.

Max Warner returned to the court for the final match: the Under 18’s final, where he faced off against another American Jonah Serotta. Serotta went searching for a way through Warner’s play, but kept finding the back wall, setting Warner up for the rest of the rally. Warner had a vice-grip on the service end; the angles generated from his left-handed play prevented Serotta from finding the galleries to relieve pressure. Serotta’s stock ball down the gallery side kept finding Warner’s forehand, which he was able to caress across to the grille. Serotta fought back well, evening the point count by the end of the set despite losing 6/3.

Serotta figured out the angles for the second set, using the deep side walls to get the ball behind Warner and getting him to spoon the ball back in response. He extended out a three game lead, boosted by spending time at the service end and making Warner work both sides of the stroke area until he made a mistake. Warner had to battle to bring the score back to equality, helped by a long stint on serve. Serotta’s stand could no longer hold, with Warner finding grille after grille. With his win, Warner became the first player to have won the Under 18’s championship on three separate occasions

The junior circuit now turns to Seacourt for the World Junior Championships and World Junior Girl’s Championships, running from Tuesday through to Sunday.

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Match results:

• 12:30 PM: Under 12’s: Jack Morgan def Matthew Jacobs 8/2

• 12:30 PM: Under 14’s: Dan Morgan def Ryan Wallace 6/5 6/5

• 1:30 PM: Under 16’s: Max Warner def Kurt Mueller 6/1 6/0

• 2:30 PM: Under 18’s Girls: Rosie Kay lost to Isabella Wylie 2/8

• 3:15 PM: Under 18’s: Max Warner def Jonah Serotta 6/3 6/4

What’s new for 2026/27

There are a few changes from last season:

More events: The League will contest 13 events this season, as we welcome the three new T&RA Opens (Eastern Open, Wessex Open, Thames Valley Open) plus the Moore Family Office Challenge into the fantasy league fold. The full event list includes:

• all 4 international Opens

• IRTPA Players Championships

• US Professional Singles

• Champions Trophy

• 3 T&RA Opens (Eastern, Wessex, Thames Valley)

• Seacourt’s Silver Racquet

• Moore Family Office Challenge

• US National League Super Event

More money: To handle all these events, this year’s budget is set at £900m (up from £750m.)

More points: a rejigged - and more equitable - points structure for performance in singles events; plus significantly more points from doubles competitions (3 points per set won, compared to 1 point last season)

The end of double-picks: This season your squad of three players needs to contain three different players. No more picking your favourite player twice.

Stability on pricing: players’ prices will be fixed for the whole season on 1st September 2026, so you have more certainty on how much players will cost when it comes round to tournaments.

What’s stayed the same

The general principle remains the same: pick three players, get points based on their performance, most points wins. Bonuses remain the same as last year: for big wins, doubles events and for players with the fewest picks.

It’s still free to play, and there’s no minimum age restriction to take part.

How to sign up

Simply head to rtfantasyleague.com and sign up using the button on the side menu. All player credentials from last season have been wiped so you’ll need to sign up again if you played last year. It only takes two minutes.

Round 1 is the French Open at the end of September and squad selections will open in early September.

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The domestic season will begin with the Eastern Open, to be held in Cambridge from 29 October through 1 November. The event will be a lead-in to the British Open, once again scheduled to be held at the Queen’s Club from 15-23 November. In the new year, there will be back-to-back events with the Wessex Open running at Canford from 25-28 February and the Thames Valley Open at Leamington from 4-7 March. The domestic season is once again expected to conclude with the Champions Trophy at the Royal Tennis Court, although that is yet to be confirmed.

“The introduction of these tournaments marks an exciting step forward for Real Tennis in the UK, reflecting the T&RA’s ambition to see more high-level Tennis played throughout the season and to provide players with greater opportunities to compete,” said the Tennis and Rackets Association in their statement.

Importantly, all three events are open to players regardless of nationality or professional or amateur status — a criteria currently enjoyed only by the four national Opens, three state-based Opens in Australia and the Champions Trophy.1 As a result, the standard is expected to be high, fostering intense competition between all involved.

The initiative takes Open tennis outside London for the first time since the 2003 European Open was held at Prested Hall.2 Importantly, the events are intended to be on a club rotation, taking high-level tennis to various clubs in the regions over a multi-year cycle and providing a boost for the host clubs.

The goal of the program is to provide opporunities for both British professionals and amateurs to compete and test themselves on a regular basis, preparing them for the highest stage and promoting regular challenges for the generation of up-and-coming players.

Each host club is expected to put on a programme of events to encourage viewership and attendance — full details will be announced closer to the date. The success of these events and the continued development of elite tennis in Britian relies on people supporting from the dedans and galleries, so please consider supporting where possible. Prospective sponsors should contact the Tennis and Rackets Association directly.

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2026/27 Season Open events calendar:

• 26 September-4 October: French Open, Paris

• 3-4 October: Tasmanian Open, Hobart

• 17-25 October: IRTPA Players’ Championship, Aiken

• 29 October-1 November: Eastern Open, Cambridge

• 15-23 November: British Open, Queen’s

• 4-14 January: Australian Open, Sydney

• 15-17 January: Ballarat Silver Racquet, Ballarat

• 25-28 February: Wessex Open, Canford

• 4-7 March: Thames Valley Open, Leamington

• May TBC: Victorian Open, TBC

• May TBC: US Open, Tuxedo

• June TBC: US Professional Singles, Newport

• July TBC: Champions Trophy, Royal Tennis Court

• August TBC: New South Wales Open, Sydney

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The second edition of the New South Wales Open on the new Sydney court started on the Friday — and with a few players not travelling up from the southern states it provided an opportunity for others to make an impact.

The first quarter final was between Hobart assistant pro and fourth seed Jackson Pastoor and former Hobartian and now Sydney-sider Alex Rackham. Pastoor started the match strong, aided by errors off the racket of Rackham to take a 3/0 lead. Rackham then found some rhythm and forced some errors from Pastoor who was struggling with a knee issue that he had heavily strapped. Rackham leveled at 3-all. Trading game for game, the pair got to 5-all and it was Rackham who edged his professional counterpart to take the set after Pastoor’s force missed high and cannoned into the roof.

Pastoor again took an early lead in the second set, getting to 4/1 before Rackham fought back again, pulling back to 3/4 and then 4/5. A double fault and two unforced errors from Rackham gave Pastoor three set points, a loose railroad gave Pastoor an opportunity he took with both hands: a straight force down the middle of the court catching the edge of Rackham’s racquet gave the fourth seed the set.

Pastoor freed up in the final set and while he was clearly hampered by the knee issue he again took a commanding lead, this time 5/1 through disciplined play, good serving and tactical chases. At 5/1, 40-30 and defending better than 3 it seemed he was home until he dumped a relatively easy backhand into the net. Rackham then took the next four games swiftly to level at 5-all. In final game the nerves were evident and three errors from Rackham gave Pastoor another three match points. After saving two of them Rackham found the net, a visibly relieved Pastoor walked to the net having just made the first Open semi-final of his short career.

Next up was 2nd seed Chris Chapman taking on the in form and fast improving Sammy Legg. The first few games were close, with Legg showing his improvement and Chapman showing his experience. The pair split the first four games evenly. However, keeping up with a minus-handicap player takes its toll, and a few errors started to creep into the Tasmanian’s game as he tried to match Chapman’s stroke play. The first set went to Chapman, 6/2.

The second set started much the same way as the first. Longish rallies, Legg playing better than his handicap and Chapman steady. Again the errors crept in as Legg tried everything to break the former world number 3’s game down. The man affectionately known as Chappy won the match 6/2 6/1 to lock in a semi final against Pastoor.
He could also lay claim to shot of the day, almost overrunning a ball only to waive his Wayward wand and hit it between his legs to wrong foot Legg who could only float the return — Chapman then sliding a backhand volley under the grille.

Thid on was the top seed Kieran Booth against another former Tasmanian Ted Alexander. Booth professionally went about his work, hitting his targets and serving tight and not giving Alexander a look in. He took the first set 6/1. The second set went much the same way, with Booth keeping his foot on Alexander’s throat and taking the second set 6/0. A professional performance from one of the world’s best amateurs.

The last quarter-final was the all Sydney derby, head pro vs assistant pro, Marino-Hume vs Cherry. Third seed Marino-Hume made a strong start, taking a 2/0 lead before Cherry found a groove to get to 1/2. However Cherry was in 6th gear, effectively trying to overpower his higher ranked opponent. Unfortunately for Cherry he couldn’t hit his targets consistently and sprayed the ball around. As his errors mounted, his frustration grew and he tried to hit the ball harder and harder. Marino-Hume took the set 6/1. The second set followed a similar pattern, with a visibly frustrated Cherry was trying to hit the ball into next week and when he did try to slow things down the steady Marino-Hume retrieved everything and forced more errors. He won the second set to love, securing the last semi final spot, 6/1 6/0.

The semi-finals took place on Saturday, starting with the match between Chapman and Pastoor. Pastoor looked comfortable, securing chases with his first two shots and winning the first game of the match. However much like Legg, his errors started to mount as Chapman used his signature boast and cut volley to perfection, punishing anything loose from the big Tasmanian. While the Hobart pro did have more look-ins and game points, he couldn’t find a conversion as Chapman took the first set 6/1 after a long rally ended with a backhand error from Pastoor.

The second set was much the same — Pastoor took an early lead of 1/0 and 2/1 before Chapman again got on top and forced errors from Pastoor’s racket. Again, game points came and went for Pastoor while Chapman seized on his, accounting for his less experienced opponent 6/1 6/2.

The second of the semi-finals was between Booth and Marino-Hume. Thanks to a few errors and loose shots from Marino-Hume, Booth took an early lead and first set was over in the blink of an eye with Booth taking it 6/1. The second set looked to be heading the same way when Booth led the home professional 5/1. Again Marino-Hume was donating points with loose shots and errors. However, Marino-Hume tightened things up, digging more balls out, staying in the points and wearing Booth down. Marino-Hume levelled the set at 5-all. Booth shot out to a 40-15 lead with a chase worse than 1. For a moment he thought he’d won it with a volley force that looked to be on target, however it clipped the bottom edge of the bandeau and shot out to worse than 5. He steadied in the next point and forced a backhand error from Marino-Hume and setting up a showdown with Chapman in the final.

The doubles competition followed, starting with the semi-finals. Top seeds Booth and Chapman took on Pastoor and Legg. Winning the toss, the Tasmanian pair elected to serve first, with Pastoor getting things underway, serving to Booth. It became apparent to the less experienced pair very early on that both Booth and Chapman were in no mood to hang around as they slapped anything loose into the dedans, taking an early lead and holding it to win the set 6/3. Despite Legg’s best efforts from the back of the court the top seeds went on a tear in the second setand started to over power the Hobartians, building a sizeable lead and never looking back. Match over 6/3 6/0.

The second doubles semi-final started where the first left off as hometown pros and singles quarter final adversaries Marino-Hume and Cherry took on Rackham and Alexander. The pro pair immediately stamped their authority on the match, winning the first set 6/0 in quick time. The second set was a tighter affair with both Rackham and Alexander finding some rhythm, tightening up their games and forcing a few errors of their own. It wasn’t enough though as the second seeds took the set and the match to set up a finals date with Chapman and Booth.

Sunday was Finals Day, with the singles final being played first. Booth and Chapman faced off for the first time in competition since the 2025 Australian Open in Hobart. While both players were struggling to read the court at times, it was the amateur who made the early running and took an unassailable first set lead, winning it 6/1.

The second set was a lot closer with Chapman gaining a narrow lead of 3/2. However, Booth would win the next three games to turn 2/3 into 5/3 and put himself within a game of the title he had narrowly missed out on the previous year. Chapman rallied to take the next game, but the competitive beast that is KB pulled through winning the next game and taking the match and title.

The attention then turned to the doubles where the singles final combatants and previous evening’s football rivals teamed up to take on home pro team Marino-Hume and Cherry. The match started with long rallies with the home pair more than holding their own, however eventually the consistency and weight of shot from the top seeds forced more errors and they ran away with the first set 6/1. The second set was a much tighter affair with the home team raising their level. The pairs traded game for game early, but again the experience shone through, Booth’s impeccable force and Chapman’s heavy cut wore them down yet again and they closed out the match, 6/4 in the second.

The Australian domestic Open series for 2026 concludes in October with the Tasmanian Open, to be held in Hobart.

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Match results:

• 14 August:

  • 12:45 AM: Jackson Pastoor (4) def Alex Rackham 5/6 6/2 6/5

  • 2:30 PM: Chris Chapman (2) def Sammy Legg 6/2 6/1

  • 4:30 PM: Kieran Booth (1) def Ted Alexander 6/1 6/0

  • 6:00 PM: Alexander Marino-Hume (3) def Nathaniel Cherry 6/1 6/0

• 15 August:

  • 10:30 AM: Jackson Pastoor lost to Chris Chapman (2) 1/6 2/6

  • 12:00 PM: Alexander Marino-Hume lost to Kieran Booth (1) 1/6 5/6

  • 4:45 PM: Kieran Booth & Chris Chapman (1) def Jackson Pastoor & Sam Legg 6/3 6/0

  • 6:00 PM: Ted Alexander & Alex Rackham lost to Alexander Marino-Hume & Nathaniel Cherry (2) 0/6 4/6

• 16 August:

  • 10:30 AM: Kieran Booth (1) def Chris Chapman (2) 6/1 6/4

  • 2:30 PM: Kieran Booth & Chris Chapman (1) def Alexander Marino-Hume & Nathaniel Cherry (2) 6/2 6/3
    

News
The Champions Trophy format never fails to deliver when it comes to close matches and big strategic calls. The qualifying matches saw four Champions Trophy debutants try their hand at making the main draw, with Nino Merola and Vaughan Hamilton winning all their matches (just.) The main draw broadly went with seedings, with the potential for some players meeting each other twice in the same event. Both finalists Nick Howell and Steve Virgona needed to go through the Friday repechage matches, seeing off the threat from Bryn Sayers and Robert Shenkman respectively. Both semi finals went the full three sets as well, but in Sunday’s Final it was the man from Aiken who put on a show, seeing off Steve Virgona 6/2 6/2 in barely an hour. Many congratulations to Nick on his second title!

Points awarded
With no doubles event, there were only possibilities for Big Win bonuses and 2% pick bonuses. Two Big Win bonuses came from qualifying (one for Zak Eadle against Lewis Williams; and one for Claire Fahey against Will Flynn). In the main draw, Ben Taylor-Matthews earned a big win from his quarter final win against Virgona, who in turn earned a big win over Robert Shenkman in the second quarter final match. Nick’s win over Steve also earned him a big win bonus.
The Champions Trophy only has 14 entrants, so there’s often a fair spread of picks across players - only 2 players (Clare Fahey and Benedict Yorston) were eligible for the 2% pick bonus.

Points run-down
The full points run-down, with all bonuses included, is:
Nick Howell: 48 points+
Steve Virgona: 33 points+
Ben Taylor-Matthews: 24 points+
Claire Fahey: 18 points+^
Rob Fahey: 16 points
Zak Eadle: 9 points+
Robert Shenkman: 8 points
Bryn Sayers: 8 points
Nino Merola: 8 points
Vaughan Hamilton: 8 points
Benedict Yorston: 2 points^
Lewis Williams: 1 point
Will Flynn: 1 point
+ inc Big Win bonus
^ 2% picks bonus applied

The final leaderboard and main headlines from Round 11 are below. Last year’s League winner TopDoy (not me) played their Tournament Boost to immense effect, their huge 200+ point haul barging their way into the overall top 5. But it’s Novak from Hobart, who took the overall lead after the World Doubles Championship in April, that takes the title by 33 points over Men Taylor-Batthews. Congratulations to Novak for winning the 2025-26 Real Tennis Fantasy League!
A shoutout must go to our friends in Hobart for this season. Hobart is represented by three players, and they all finished in the top 4 globally - a very impressive achievement all round, and great to have such strong support from Australia for this game!

What’s next?
Attention will switch shortly to the 26/27 Real Tennis Fantasy League season. The website rtfantasyleague.com will stay live with the 25/26 season for a few more days, so you can check your progress over the last 12 months. Registrations for the 26/27 season will open in mid-August, in plenty of time for the French Open in September. More information to follow soon!

The 26/27 season is likely to follow the same template as the 25/26 season, with really only small rule tweaks if necessary. The main principles will remain the same though - a budget for the season, prices on each player, most points wins. If you have any feedback or rule changes you’d want to see, drop a comment below or get in touch by any other method. I’m all ears and there’s no such thing as a stupid idea!

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Steve Virgona lined up for his first Champions Trophy final against the former winner Nick Howell. The end of their seasons was a repeat of the final of the season opener at the French Open in Paris. Both of them came through the second chance pathway having lost their first round matches. Howell was faster off the blocks, finding his range on his force from the very first ball and immediately throwing Virgona off his service line. Howell’s retrieval from the service end restricted Virgona’s ability to find chases, with the left-hander throwing big boasts into the main wall to try and get the ball to come across his opponent. Virgona tried everything to re-find his groove — including playing out one game and one game only with a cap on. But nothing seemed to work, not helped by all of the 50-50 balls going against him. Howell pushed his early lead into a 6/2 victory in the first set.

Virgona kept experimenting to try and find a chink in Howell’s armour through the start of the second set, but each time Howell had the response ready, and with interest to boot. His serve gave Virgona nothing to work with, with the Chicago pro often finding himself on the back foot from the first stroke of the reste. It took until the fourth game of the set for Virgona to win his first. Howell was unperturbed, taking the last few games with ease. Upon hitting the final point, he raised both arms in the air with a massive grin on his face.

Howell’s victory is his first piece of singles silverware for the season, having reached the finals of both the French and British Opens. It is his second Champions Trophy victory — having previously won in 2024 — and joins Camden Riviere, Rob Fahey and John Lumley each with two wins.

Steve Virgona ends the event just 4,583 points short of Ben Taylor-Matthews in the World Race, where the top four players qualify for the World Championship Eliminators. Taylor-Matthews currently sits in fourth place with three eligible events remaining: the French Open, the IRTPA Players’ Championships and the British Open.

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Match results:

• 11:30 AM: Steve Virgona (4) lost to Nick Howell (1) 2/6 2/6

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The first semi-final saw the two Australian veterans, Robert Fahey and Steve Virgona, take to the court, extending their rivalry into a fourth calendar decade, going back to the 1990s when Virgona was a promising young star from Ballarat. Over their nearly 50 previous match-ups, Fahey had won at a rate of three to one, including in two World Challenges. Given that, one may have expected that there would have been nothing the two former doubles partners wouldn’t know about each other’s games, yet they still spent the first part of the first set trying to outfox each other with unusual boasts or ambitious volleys. Virgona was the more measured of the two, not giving in to Fahey’s antics and maintaining his consistent hitting, gaining the upper hand on the scoreboard. Trailing in the set 5/1, Fahey tapped four balls into the net to give away two double faults in order to start the next set at the service end.

Fahey leant into his force in the second set just as he had done against Nick Howell in his first match. Virgona responded by playing a very high court position, covering both the volley and the missed force. But that gave room for Fahey to play around him, generating the angle into the back of the court. Virgona’s response was to play the easy ball as a drop shot, but that brought with it several unforced or unfortunate errors. Fahey won the first four games of the second set, with the state of the scoreboard alone neutralising Virgona’s attack.

Virgona found better success at the start of the third set, homing in his serve along the bottom plank of the penthouse. He broke his losing streak, establishing a two-game buffer. Fahey was at full stretch trying to recover the deficit, but Virgona was defensively solid, holding on for most of the set. However, Fahey was able to step up to another level, playing shots befitting a former World Champion to bring the scoreline back to 4-all. Then he got too ambitious, launching himself at the ball too often and finding the net or the penthouse, with Virgona happy to mop up the aftermath. In the final game he struck back-to-back grilles to bring up match point, slotting the final ball down the forehand to qualify for his first career Champions Trophy final.

The other semi-final saw the unusual arrangement whereby the top two seeds, Nick Howell and Ben Taylor-Matthews, met before the final — a consequence of Howell’s loss to Fahey in the early rounds. The intrigue around the World Race continued too: with Virgona progressing to the final, a loss for Taylor-Matthews would cost at least 1,784 points — and possibly as many as 4,013 — of the 6,367 point advantage he held at the start of the tournament in the battle for the fourth eliminator berth.

After a nervy first few games, Taylor-Matthews settled into the rhythm of the match, successfully restricting the biggest excesses of Howell’s forcing play through tight railroads and persistent consistency. His backhand-to-backhand play manoeuvered Howell around until Taylor-Matthews saw, and pounced, on his opportunities. Though Howell initially had a 2/1 lead, Taylor-Matthews was ascendant through the rest of the first set, controlling the service end throughout and sealing the set with a grille.

The play got somewhat testy in the second set, with both players chuntering to themselves when their shots didn’t meet their high standards. At one point Howell tossed his racket at the wall, protesting that “it slipped” when challenged by the marker. Though Taylor-Matthews had the early lead in the set, Howell’s target hitting proclivity gave him the advantage instead. Howell got on top of Taylor-Matthews’s railroad, slamming everything he could into the dedans — with anything that missed ending up in the grille instead. He scored four games in a row, which proved the decisive advantage to even up the match. Taylor-Matthews’s shot control fell away through the third set as the match slipped away. Howell sensed blood, sending an almighty barrage of balls at the dedans. Howell won the set easily, qualifying for his third consecutive Champions Trophy final.

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Match results:

• 12:30 PM: Robert Fahey (3) lost to Steve Virgona (4) 1/6 6/1 4/6

• 2:30 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (2) lost to Nick Howell (1) 6/3 3/6 1/6

Order of play for Sunday (all times BST):

• 11:30 AM: Steve Virgona (4) vs Nick Howell (1)

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Having lost to Robert Fahey in the previous day’s play, Nick Howell found himself playing in a second chance match against Bryn Sayers, who had defeated Nino Merola in his elimination quarter-final. With the court and balls playing quite slow, Howell was better able to inject pace into the game, using it to win the first four games. But given how large the back wall nick was playing, and the length Sayers was playing, there was enough in the court for the Queen’s club professional to keep interested. They reached an impasse in the seventh game, counting out nine deuces and slowed down by the very regular chases and changes of ends. Though Sayers won the game, Howell quickly reeled off the next, going on to win the set only being slowed down by Sayers’s ability to hit openings when down set point.

Little separated them through the start of the second set. Sayers’s methodical consistency played off against Howell’s all-or-nothing hitting. However, Sayers was still able to break the pattern with a force or target, often against the run of the rally. Howell, meanwhile, wasn’t finding enough opportunities to attack the ball, as Sayers took the pace out of the game. From 2-all, Sayers won the next three games, a decisive lead that saw him go on to close out the set.

Back to the wall, Howell threw his racket after the ball in the third set. Sayers was up to the challenge, neutralising the threat wherever it emerged and always being able to find an equal if not better response. Though at times, Howell seemed consigned to an early trip back to South Carolina, after a few fortunate shots and a few tight railroads he regained a spark, fighting from 2/3 down to within a stroke from a 5/3 lead. Sayers never wavered, going to 5/4 by beating better than 2 on the floor. Howell set up a deciding game with back to back grilles.

Sayers went up 30-0 in the deciding game, with a difficult short railroad followed by a reste he controlled start to finish after a good serve. Howell then changed rackets, using the new one to rip the ball into the corners. Sayers had his chances, missing the grille by inches then failing to punish a sky ball. With two short chases, Howell ripped in a series of tough railroads, winning the match with an ace.

In the other match of the evening, fifth seed Robert Shenkman played fourth seed Steve Virgona. Given it was just the second time the two had shared a court in a competitive singles match, Shenkman was initially uncomfortable with the different angles and spins the left-handed Virgona generates, especially on the return of serve. Though he was positive early, striking the dedans several times in the first two games, he quickly got sucked into Virgona’s play style. From the service end, Virgona gave Shenkman’s defences a thorough examination. Shenkman saved two set points in the 3/5 game, one with a nick railroad, taking the game to deuce, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Virgona establishing the overall lead.

After taking a bathroom break between sets, Virgona returned in a dominant mood. He tested Shenkman time and time again around the base of the tambour, with the amateur champion unable to find a way out of the longer rallies. Virgona was on the precipice of a 3/1 lead when there was an extended medical time out for Shenkman due to a face bleed from running into a wall. Upon the resumption, Shenkman never got going again, with Virgona controlling the play all the way to the match’s conclusion.

Play continues on Saturday with the two semi-finals. Robert Fahey and Ben Taylor-Matthews will return to competition having received a bye through Friday’s play. The tournament will conclude with the final on Sunday.

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Match results:

• 5:00 PM: Bryn Sayers (6) lost to Nick Howell (1) 3/6 6/3 5/6

• 6:15 PM: Robert Shenkman (5) lost to Steve Virgona (4) 3/6 1/6

Order of play for Saturday (all times BST):

• 12:30 PM: Robert Fahey (3) vs Steve Virgona (4)

• 2:00 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (2) vs Nick Howell (1)

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The main draw began with a rematch from two years prior — qualifier Nino Merola took on sixth seed Bryn Sayers. Sayers had withdrawn from that encounter after the first set, the last he played before his hip replacement. The initial play was very tactical, with both players opting for slower, tight railroads. Play had to be suspended midway through the fourth game as Sayers took a chunk out of the battery wall on the return. Merola had the better start, having points for a 4/1 lead after playing Sayers up and down the battery wall. But Sayers adapted to the pace of the court, increasing the pace of his shots to counteract the slow pace of the floor. Merola had to cling on defensively to steal the next pair of games, biding his time before an opportunity presented to reposte with a winner. But Sayers kept attacking, sending the set into a deciding game. Having spent most of the set pushing balls into Sayers’s backhand, Merola sent two disguised balls into his forehand instead, earning a point and two short chases and seemingly the advantage in the game. But Sayers beat better than a yard on the floor to nullify the advantage. Sayers put three balls deep into Merola’s backhand for two chases and a point himself. Merola beat better than a yard with a straight force to bring up set point, but he couldn’t convert the three yard chase. Sayers took the set with two winners down the main wall.

Having spent the first set scattering balls around the grille, Sayers opened the second set with back to back shots into the square opening. Across the set, the extra fraction that Sayers was extracting from his shots was enough to maintain the advantage. His target hitting was more accurate, hitting a dozen over the set as compared to a scant few in the first. Merola kept battling but it was ultimately in vain, with Sayers progressing through.

The second of the elimination quarter-finals was between Robert Shenkman and Vaughan Hamilton. Hamilton had had the better of Shenkman in their previous encounter at the Jesmond Dene Cup earlier in the season, so Shenkman was keen to make his fifth seed status felt. Shenkman was clinical in his execution, barely making an error. It pushed Hamilton to overextend on balls that weren’t there for the taking. Shenkman was ready to punish any mistakes, building a big lead in the first set. With nothing left to lose, Hamilton dialled the attack to the maximum, launching himself at every ball he could and pushing Shenkman back onto the defensive. He pulled back a couple of games but Shenkman had enough of a buffer to take the set. Hamilton had the initiative at the start of the second set, but Shenkman was able to suffocate his play instead. Visibly annoyed, Hamilton threw his racket after the ball, spraying shots all over but Shenkman was unphased. He methodically worked through the set, winning the match and moving on to the next round.

The second session saw the non-elimination quarter-finals, with previous winners Nick Howell and Robert Fahey doing battle. Both were keen to get off to a strong start, with the format rewarding the player who can encourage the other to submit and preserve energy for their repechage match. The first game went to seven deuces, with all three targets getting a workout. They were never separated by more than a game throughout the first set, with both players exercising their world-class forces. Eventually they reached a deciding game, with Howell earning a couple of set points with his big cut-volleys. Fahey defended both, taking the game to deuce. Howell brought up another set point with a dedans, before Fahey lost the set with a ball onto the bandeau, losing a second gallery chase.

Fahey’s response to dropping the first set was to go harder at the second. He wowed the crowd with his quick hands, scarcely believable shots, and pinpoint accurate shooting. He piled on the games, with the set passing in the blink of an eye. By the end, Howell was only mustering a token defence of Fahey’s forces, saving his reserves for the final set. He then switched on again, fighting hard and eventually having a chance for a 3/0 lead. However, playing a better-than-last gallery chase, his shot instead slid into the gallery. Fahey was keen to see the job done, pouncing on any slight error in Howell’s railroad and slamming them into the main wall. By the end of the match, one in three of his winning points came from winning openings. Even as he tired in his retrieval, his ability to keep the points short sufficed for victory, securing his slot in the semi-finals.

The last match carried with it big implications for the World Championship Race, with both Ben Taylor-Matthews and Steve Virgona fighting it out for the fourth spot in the eliminators. Ahead of the tournament, Taylor-Matthews held a six-thousand point advantage, and should he walk away from the tournament with more points than his rival, he would be able to pencil in his slot with three tournaments remaining. For Virgona, if he made the final and saw Taylor-Matthews bundled out in his two matches, over half of the deficit would have been erased.

Taylor-Matthews was faster out of the gate, immediately finding a good length on his shots, including beating some very short chases, and getting his railroad to spin tight. He took the first three games of the match before Virgona started to play into the match. Virgona worked Taylor-Matthews side-to-side over and over, but the Westwood professional was up to the task. Despite the adventurous strokeplay from Virgona, as the scoreboard ticked against him, so did the errors. He never stopped fighting, but Taylor-Matthews refused to give him an opening, holding on to win the set.

Virgona seized the initiative for the start of the second set, sending bullet after bullet at Taylor-Matthews. He saw off the initial challenge before the pair locked horns in their epic duel. Taylor-Matthews pushed ahead again, but Virgona was not going to give him any easy games. Taylor-Matthews was stretched defensively, but the form held. With Virgona’s attack now nullified, Taylor-Matthews pushed ahead. He benefited from a pair of double fault railroads from Virgona, the latter of which gave Taylor-Matthews his first match point. Taylor-Matthews didn’t need further invitation, winning the match and avoiding the repechage bracket for the first time since 2023.

Play continues on Friday, where the losers of the non-elimination matches will play the winners of the elimination matches. The winners of the non-elimination matches progress through to play in the semi-finals on Saturday.

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Match results:

• 1:30 PM: Bryn Sayers (6) def Nino Merola (Q) 6/5 6/3

• 2:45 PM: Robert Shenkman (5) def Vaughan Hamilton (Q) 6/3 6/2

• 5:30 PM: Nick Howell (1) lost to Robert Fahey (3) 6/5 0/6 4/6

• 6:45 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (2) def Steve Virgona (4) 6/4 6/3

Order of play for Friday (all times BST):

• 5:00 PM: Bryn Sayers (6) vs Nick Howell (1)

• 6:15 PM: Robert Shenkman (5) vs Steve Virgona (4)

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The first match of the day was between Nino Merola and Will Flynn. Both players had different objectives going into the match. Merola was undefeated on the first day, and saw the match as a stepping stone ahead of a match-up against the other undefeated player in the group, Darren Long. Flynn, meanwhile, had lost to Long on Tuesday, so needed victory to try and mix up the results in the group. The play was characterised by defensive serving, as each player was weary of strength of their opponent’s returns, be it on the force or the cut volley. Flynn’s deft touch and dramatic variations in pace took him to within touching distance of a four-game lead, while Merola struggled to perfectly execute his winners. But Merola worked his way back into the match, cutting down his errors and finding success with his wider serves. They battled through 5-all, then 6-all, after Merola had to shake off the disappointment of a grille call having gone against him. The serve dominated the latter stages of the match, with Flynn going 8/7 up. Merola stuck in with some brilliant retrieval around the angles of the tambour, sending the match into a deciding game.

Flynn opened the game with a series of heavy boasts that eventually missed the grille, with Merola leaping in the air to let the ball fall between his legs and out for a hazard. Unsighted, he looked to the galleries for confirmation that it hadn’t fallen a stroke. The next ball he put to the grille elicited a volley error from Merola, before striking the following ball cleanly into the square target. Changing ends with two match points and a hazard chase, Merola landed a nick railroad. On the next, Flynn picked off last gallery from a poor underarm twist. Back at the hazard end, Merola’s force skipped over the net tape, picking up extra spin and beating Flynn around the angles. After Merola nailed a cut-volley into the floor by his feet, Flynn had another match point, but it was Merola’s turn to find the galleries. Merola again kept his railroad tight, forcing Flynn to boast out of trouble on every subsequent ball before Merola could find the winner. Merola brought up his own match point by jamming Flynn on the tambour, winning the match with a ball hitting the nick under the grille on the second bounce.

In the other group, Lewis Williams lined up against Benedict Yorston, both having failed to win a match on the first day of qualifying. Yorston was able to absorb everything that Williams had to throw at him, helped by the bouncy nature of the court. The pressure started to suffocate Williams for ideas and starve him for chases. After Williams won the first two games of the match, Yorston won the next five, with dogged retrieval sapping all of the energy of the match. At 6/3 to Yorston, Williams called for an injury timeout, returning with a calf sleeve. After Yorston won the first game after the resumption, his concentration wavered. A few unforced errors started seeping into his play, letting Williams back into the match. The World Number 10 slowed down the match, keeping the points short, finding the grille on a regular basis, and serving slow and high to force Yorston into generating pace. Williams brought it back to 7-all. Yorston finally broke the run with some good floating balls around the grille. Both players were targeting last gallery incessantly, putting the match into a second consecutive deciding game.

Yorston put the first rally of the last game in to the last gallery. Williams responded with a flush high serve; Yorston’s scooping return was called a carry by the marker. The second was almost as good, but Yorston was able to get enough room to boast onto the wall in front of the tambour and draw the error. Yorston then punished a missed grille with a short chase. Changing ends, Yorston defended the chase with a long, nagging rally in his signature style. Williams left his own mark too, beating the better than a yard chase with a force into the dedans. Two points away from the match, Yorston framed a volley over for a hazard chase, before bringing up match point by tagging Williams off the tambour. Yorston beat the hazard chase by chipping the ball into the first galleries and spreading his arms in celebration.

The next match was the dead rubber fixture between Claire Fahey and Will Flynn, with both having lost their two earlier matches. In contrast to the previous match, the restes was fast and frenetic, with both players trying to finish points quickly either by winning length or winning openings. Though fortune helped her over the line in the first two games, Fahey was clinical thereafter, winning the next three unchallenged. Flynn started to then mount a fightback, looking to hit winners where possible. The next five games were exchanged evenly, but Fahey’s strong start still proved decisive. It brought her maiden Champions Trophy victory, even though she did not progress.

With the news filtering through that Williams had withdrawn from the final match of the day, awarding the group win to Vaughan Hamilton, the next match between Benedict Yorston and Zak Eadle would be a dead rubber. Eadle was not keen to engage in Yorston’s long rallies, looking for a winner wherever possible. The risk-reward payoff meant that for every winner he hit, he gave away an easy shot, with the players exchanging games through the first half of the match. The match came to a crux in the 6/5 game — a tight deuce battle — with Eadle starting to wind up the pace of his forces. Eadle pushed on, reaching an 8/5 lead before Yorston nagged his way back into contention. He brought it all the way back to 7/8, but it wasn’t enough to save the match.

The last match of the day was a live rubber between Nino Merola and Darren Long. Both came into the match undefeated, with the match winner moving into the main draw as the group winner. Across the first two games, Long was firing in difficult railroads, putting Merola’s cut-volley under strain. From the hazard end, he was finding the range on his force, testing Merola’s defensive volley as well. He took the first two games before Merola took the pace out of his serves, eventually settling on a slow, central railroad. It worked a charm, at least initially, notching up five straight games as Long took his time adapting to having to bring the pace himself. Eventually he did, smashing seemingly every ball at the dedans as he brought the scoreline back to 5-all. Merola was forced to change his serve again, moving to a pique, landing the ball on the service line with remarkable precision. Long had no choice but to chip it to Merola’s backhand, giving the Radley professional an opening in the rallies. Merola pushed on, securing qualification for the main draw for the second time in his career.

After the match, the two group winners were drawn into their main draw matches, with Merola to play Bryn Sayers and Hamilton to play Robert Shenkman. The top four seeds will each play against each other in their quarter-finals with a second-chance available for the losers. The first of the quarter-finals will take place at the commencement of the main draw on Thursday.

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Match results:

• 1:30 PM: Nino Merola def Will Flynn 9/8

• 2:30 PM: Lewis Williams lost to Benedict Yorston 8/9

• 3:30 PM: Will Flynn lost to Claire Fahey 2/9

• 4:30 PM: Benedict Yorston lost to Zak Eadle 7/9

• 5:30 PM: Nino Merola def Darren Long 9/5

• 6:30 PM: Lewis Williams lost to Vaughan Hamilton w/o

Group A Standings:

1. Vaughan Hamilton (played 2, won 2, 1 walkover)

2. Zak Eadle (played 3, won 2)

3. Benedict Yorston (played 3, won 1)

4. Lewis Williams (played 2, won 0)

Group B standings:

1. Nino Merola (played 3, won 3)

2. Darren Long (played 3, won 2)

3. Claire Fahey (played 3, won 1)

4. Will Flynn (played 3, won 0)

Order of play for Saturday:

• 1:30 PM: Bryn Sayers (6) vs Nino Merola (Q)

• 2:45 PM: Robert Shenkman (5) vs Vaughan Hamilton (Q)

• 5:30 PM: Nick Howell (1) vs Robert Fahey (3)

• 6:45 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (2) vs Steve Virgona (4)

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The tournament began with the Champions Trophy debutant Claire Fahey playing the veteran of every previous edition, Darren Long. Long opened the match with a big force at the dedans, leaving Fahey scrambling for an effective serve in the long opening game. Midway through, she lost her footing, slipping over and splaying on the floor. Her confidence wavered as Long took an early lead. While Fahey avoided railroads like the plague, they were Long’s bread and butter, getting the ball to stick along the side wall. Fahey had little option but to boast out of trouble. Though she was getting the better of the longer rallies, Long’s performance in the set pieces gave him the edge throughout the set. After Fahey started stepping in and cut-volleying Long’s railroads, the Moreton Morrell pro switched up his serve to the underarm twist, while Fahey settled on a high serve. Just as she was getting back into the match, Long stepped up his forcing game again, shifting the tempo of the match. He pushed through the last four games to secure victory.

For the third time in four months, Vaughan Hamilton lined up against Zak Eadle in a major competition. The match saw a frenetic start, with two targets in the first three points. Hamilton had the better of the early exchanges, winning the first four games as his forces had a fraction more accuracy and his open play was a fraction more incisive. Eadle found himself on the back foot more often than he would have liked, with Hamilton controlling play and pressing hard at Eadle. As the match wore on, both players became somewhat hot and bothered, arguing over a not-up call and gesticulating after hitting poor shots. Hamilton settled into a more measured tempo, maintaining a lead over Eadle without overworking. Eadle kept battling, hitting plenty of good winners despite Hamilton’s antics. An excellent service game from Hamilton gave him the decisive break, and he went on to record a straightforward victory.

Darren Long returned to the court in the second session, this time to play amateur Will Flynn. Not to be outdone by the previous match, this one opened with three straight targets, followed by two aces. Long controlled the play with his railroad, keeping the rallies short and preventing Flynn winding up on the force as he built a three-game buffer. Flynn pulled back two games, with some tight games to follow, but Long came out on top of each. With Long now holding a decent buffer, the play fell flat, with Flynn unable to gain any purchase on Long’s railroad. Even if he did manage to muscle it over the net, Long was ready with the follow-up ball as he secured his second victory of the day, putting him in pole position for qualification with one match to play.

In the other group, Vaughan Hamilton lined up for his second match, this time against another Champions Trophy debutant, Benedict Yorston. On a court that doesn’t reward cut, Yorston backed himself to chase down every single ball, getting to the vast majority. Hamilton had to be patient, working through the point without overextending. Hamilton’s deep shot repertoire served him well, as did his railroad, and he eventually found a way through Yorston. Hamilton’s win made it two-from-two in the group stage, with one match still to play.

The final session of the day began with the match between Nino Merola and Claire Fahey. Merola opened proceedings with two worse-than-a-yard cut-volleys, which Fahey responded to by sliding two balls into the dedans. But thereafter, Merola got on a roll, controlling the restes from both ends of the court. He notched up four games before Fahey could get on the board. Unlike the earlier matches in the day, both players were trying to take pace out of the ball, counteracting the lack of action from the walls by refusing to let the ball reach the back. Merola held his early advantage through the middle stage of the match, with Fahey falling away towards the end despite Merola having to search to find the final point.

The last match of the day saw the entry of the highest ranked player in qualifying, Lewis Williams. His opponent was Zak Eadle. For the first time in the tournament, neither player got off to a runaway start. The play was cagey, with both players holding back some of their attack without becoming fully free-flowing. They weren’t separated by more than a game across the first seven games, yet Eadle always went ahead first. Eadle finally got a break, with his superior read of the court helping him find and execute angles that made life difficult for Williams. With the scoreboard at his back, Eadle relaxed into the play, while Williams had to fight for every ball. The lead grew and grew, with Williams getting more desperate in his shots. Eadle ran away with the remainder of the match.

Qualifying matches continue on Wednesday, with the remaining six group matches. The winner of each group will be drawn into the main draw, with the matches to be determined by lot on Wednesday evening.

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Match results:

• 1:30 PM: Darren Long def Claire Fahey 9/4

• 2:30 PM: Vaughan Hamilton def Zak Eadle 9/4

• 4:00 PM: Darren Long def Will Flynn 9/2

• 5:00 PM: Vaughan Hamilton def Benedict Yorston 9/2

• 6:30 PM: Nino Merola def Claire Fahey 9/2

• 7:30 PM: Lewis Williams lost to Zak Eadle 3/9

Group A standings:

1. Vaughan Hamilton (played 2, won 2)

2. Zak Eadle (played 2, won 1)

3. Lewis Williams (played 1, won 0)

4. Benedict Yorston (played 1, won 0)

Group B standings:

1. Darren Long (played 2, won 2)

2. Nino Merola (played 1, won 1)

3. Will Flynn (played 1, won 0)

4. Claire Fahey (played 2, won 0)

Order of play for Wednesday (all times BST):

• 1:30 PM: Nino Merola vs Will Flynn

• 2:30 PM: Lewis Williams vs Benedict Yorston

• 3:30 PM: Will Flynn vs Claire Fahey

• 4:30 PM: Benedict Yorston vs Zak Eadle

• 5:30 PM: Nino Merola vs Darren Long

• 6:30 PM: Lewis Williams vs Vaughan Hamilton

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The first match of the tournament pitted the Queen’s rackets professional and second seed James Medlow against Leamington’s Jim Ludekens. Ludekens wasn’t bothered by the higher ranking of his opponent, playing high-risk, high-reward tennis from the start. He especially leant into his force from Medlow’s railroad, often garnering a passive response that allowed Ludekens a decent follow-up opportunity. Ludekens pulled ahead early in the first set, but constantly leaked points through the inaccuracy of his hitting. Medlow locked down the service end, becoming more expansive by the end of the set, winning the last five straight games. Medlow eased through the second set, working Ludekens all over the court and barely looking under pressure. He won the set without dropping a game, securing his place in the semi-finals.

Next followed the Bordeaux professional Baudouin Huynh-Lenhardt and the Oratory trainee Henry Henman. Henman, playing on his childhood court, looked completely at home. He read the court excellently, controlling the play and barely letting his opponent have an easy ball. He blitzed the first part of the set, giving away just six points across the first five games before taking his foot ever so slightly off the gas. It allowed Huynh-Lenhardt to get some points on the board, but Henman was never going to go so far as to give up a game. His win locked in a matchup against Medlow, while Huynh-Lenhardt moved into the placement bracket to play Ludekens.

The second session began with the Prested professional and first seed Vaughan Hamilton playing the Oxford professional Nick Jamieson — the latter on a familiar court having previously worked at Radley. Hamilton brought plenty of pace to the game, immediately putting Jamieson on to the back foot. The Oxford pro quickly had to adjust to the speed of the ball, trying to find a way to control his defensive volleys. For a fleeting period during the middle of the first set, he was able to match Hamilton shot for shot. But he ultimately overextended himself, allowing Hamilton to mop up the points he needed to close it out. In the second set, Hamilton sped ahead, picking off Jamieson’s various serves with ease. He repeatedly found the dedans without having to overwork himself, wrapping up an easy victory.

The last match of the day saw the Royal Tennis Court’s Jack Josephs play another Radley alumnus, Leamington’s Josh King. In the opening stanza, Josephs struggled to find the centre of his strings, allowing King to push ahead with his measured, consistent play. Nothing Josephs did made a dent in King, and the scoreboard pressure mounted. King didn’t give an inch conceding just five points across the first set. Though Josephs took the first game of the second set, King’s dominance continued. The Leamington pro never looked under pressure, sealing a dominant win with a winning gallery played from next to the net.

Play continues on Saturday with the semi-finals, with the losing quarter-finalists entering the placement draw. The tournament will conclude on Sunday with a series of placement finals.

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Match results:

• 3:00 PM: Jim Ludekens lost to James Medlow (2) 2/6 0/6

• 4:00 PM: Henry Henman (3) def Baudouin Huynh-Lenhardt 6/0 6/0

• 5:30 PM: Vaughan Hamilton (1) def Nick Jamieson 6/3 6/0

• 6:30 PM: Jack Josephs (4) lost to Josh King 0/6 2/6

Order of play for Saturday:

• 12:00 PM (5-8 semi-final): Nick Jamieson vs Jack Josephs

• 1:30 PM (5-8 semi-final): Baudouin Huynh-Lenhardt vs Jim Ludekens

• 3:00 PM (semi-final): Vaughan Hamilton (1) vs Josh King

• 4:30 PM (semi-final): Henry Henman (3) vs James Medlow (2)

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Singles odds calculator

The IHSC has analysed the quarter-million singles matches in the Real Tennis Online (RTO) database where the match was played off the true handicap difference between players. It found that, at odds worse than receive 15-owe 15, the receiving player is winning anywhere from 16 games out of 30 to 11 games out of 20 — depending on the exact odds at play. For cramped odds, where the owing player is playing one serve, banned tambour, the effect is even stronger, with the receiving player winning up to 6 in 10 games. For a system that purports to give every player an equal chance of winning, such a systemic bias to one side is clearly not acceptable.

The IHSC will therefore implement an update to the singles odds calculator for use in all handicap matches effective 1 August. For matches played between 0 and 10 handicap difference, the odds remain unchanged. As 90% of all matches are within this band, the vast majority of tennis played will be unaffected. Between 11 and 16, the odds will shift to be one band easier for the owing player, and from 17 to 35 the odds will shift to be two bands easier. However, as odds involving chase restrictions appear to be calibrated correctly, the receive 30-owe 15, banned chases worse than 3 and 4 band will be abolished, with all other chase restriction handicaps remaining unchanged. The doubles odds calculator remains mostly unchanged — except that a difference of 2 points will now be Love-Owe 1/4 15 instead of Love-Owe 1/2 15.

The full proposed table is shown below, and will be available in a PDF form from your national association.

Doubles handicap calculator

The IHSC has also investigated the calibration of the doubles handicap calculator — the lookup table that determines a combined handicap based on the pair’s individual handicaps. To do this, 40,000 matches with a handicap difference of zero were isolated. The analysis showed that pairs with a similar handicap to each other systematically defeat pairs with a big difference in handicap between the pair. As such, the IHSC will also amend the doubles handicap adjustment factors applicable from 1 August, as shown in the table below. The table will be available in PDF form from your national association.

Doubles familiar court advantage

The IHSC has found enough evidence to bring familiar court advantage to doubles handicaps, bringing it into alignment with singles handicaps. In singles play, a player on a familiar court will win 11 out of 20 games against a non-familiar opponent when playing the true handicap difference. Consequently, the handicap algorithm gives a 2-point deduction to any familiar court player’s handicap when computing handicap adjustments. For doubles play, a pair with two players on a familiar court will win 16 out of 30 games against a pair of unfamiliar players when playing the true handicap difference.

The doubles familiar court adjustment will work as follows: each player in a doubles pair will bring one point of familiar court advantage, regardless of actual handicap. So if two home players play two away players, there will be a 2-point adjustment in the handicaps. If two home players play against one home and one away player, the adjustment will be 1-point. All symmetric combinations will have no adjustment.

A player may earn familiar court advantage for doubles in the same way as singles. A player will always have familiar court on any court connected to their primary organisation, or will achieve it should they play at least 5 matches on any court in the preceding 23 months. Singles matches will not count towards doubles familiar court and vice versa. Players who have Category 1 status will have familiar court applied to all matches for that handicap.

Global handicap cut

Following the 2.5 handicap point cut to singles handicap in 2025, 2026 will see all active singles handicaps reduced by a further 1.1 points. Doubles handicaps will be reduced by 0.7 points. Both reductions will be applied on 1 August. The reduction is calculated to readjust the median player’s handicap to 55.0 — the standard being determined by the first season after the COVID-19 break. As new players start the game their early improvement will result in established players’ handicaps increasing.

The 1.1-point cut is well above the long-term average. The primary driver for this is that new players are being assigned initial handicaps on average 7 points higher than they were even 5 years ago, and 2 points higher than the 2024/25 season even despite the last cut. The effect is particularly strong in America, which accounts for 5 of the top 7 clubs for increased initial handicaps.

Real Tennis Online updates

1 August will also see the full deployment of the new version of RTO. Some pages have already been deployed in a trial fashion in the first half of the year. Users will enjoy an expanded statistical package, allowing them to track their performances across different courts, opponents and years. Clubs will be able to access an expanded membership dashboard and systems making it easier to manage their membership register. The new RTO Booking system will then follow with much-improved finance integration, with a new all-encompassing tournament management suite thereafter.

Health of the game

The end of the season also gives an opportunity to appraise the global health of the game, based on recorded RTO results across the season. Overall, the news is positive, with the 2025/26 season set to record the largest number of active players globally recording matches for any season this century, with over 4,800 players recording a result since August 2025 including 550 women.

The number of matches recorded is set to be the highest in a decade — albeit below the high watermark set in 2010. The biggest change has been the opening of the new court in Sydney, recording its first full year of data. However, Newmarket and Newport have impressed, each recording 50% more matches year-on-year. Oxford, Melbourne, Queen’s, Wellington, Manchester, Lord’s and Leamington also saw double-digit percentage increases, while decreases were generally seen at clubs that have had turnover in their professional roster in the last 12 months.

The outstanding area of concern is the general aging of the real tennis player base, with the median age of active players now 53 — up from 47 in 2005. Under-25 participation is a real concern, having fallen from its 2015/16 peak at 16.1% of active players to an all-time low of 11.3%. The decline is consistent across countries, and should be a key focus for all clubs and administrators over the coming years.

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The two previous champions who are competing in the draw, Robert Fahey and Nick Howell, will play off in the first round. Fahey holds the better head-to-head record, but Howell came out champion in their most recent encounter — at the 2025 British Open. The winner will progress straight through to the semi-finals, while the loser will get a second chance, playing either Bryn Sayers or a qualifier in the second round. Such a match-up won’t be easy, with Sayers in excellent form having defeated Fahey in the final of the British Over 40’s Open at Seacourt in May and taken Howell to five sets at the Schochet Cup at Newport in June.

In the bottom half of the draw, Steve Virgona will play Ben Taylor-Matthews, a key stepping stone in the former’s attempt to qualify for the 2027 World Eliminators. Virgona trails Taylor-Matthews in the race for the fourth slot by 6,367 points, having reduced the deficit already following Virgona’s win over Taylor-Matthews in the quarter-final of the Schochet Cup. Virgona’s best-case scenario — an overall victory with Taylor-Matthews not winning a match — would see him pull back 5,350 points of the deficit, 84% of the points required. But should Taylor-Matthews win more points than Virgona, it would put him in pole position with three tournaments of the World Race remaining. Taylor-Matthews would back himself to do well, having made four previous Champions Trophy finals, despite having gone through the repechage draw on three of those occasions. The loser of Virgona and Taylor-Matthews will play either Robert Shenkman or a qualifier. Shenkman will be looking to reach the semi-finals for the first time, having been defeated by Taylor-Matthews in straight sets in the previous two editions.

Eight further players will attempt to join the top six via two qualifying groups, playing first-to-nine game sets. Group A is headlined by Vaughan Hamilton, who was two points away from qualifying in 2025 but fell to Darren Long. He comes into the competition in excellent form, having won the US Pro Singles Satellite, the Jesmond Dene Cup and the Category A Open in recent months. All three of his opponents will be making their Champions Trophy Qualifying debuts: Zak Eadle, Claire Fahey and Benedict Yorston. With the Royal Tennis Court being the third-widest court in the country, Fahey and Eadle will back themselves as they represent the only two courts that are even wider as the group promises plenty of tactical floor battles, given each player’s style.

Group B, however, features four of the most prolific dedans-hitters in the game, playing with the widest dedans in the country on a court that traditionally takes a railroad — and hence an attacking game — well. Lewis Williams holds the top seed in the group, but any of Nino Merola, Darren Long or Will Flynn could easily make the case as to why they would be the one to advance, especially given the shorter format that favours faster-starters.

Play will run from Tuesday 14th to Sunday 19th of July. Tickets are available from the Royal Tennis Court’s website (see here) for dedans or upper gallery tickets. A Hampton Court Palace entry ticket is not required for visitors to the tennis court unless they also wish to tour the grounds, as entry is via the security gate on Tennis Court Lane. Tourists and Hampton Court Palace ticket holders are welcome to view from the side galleries. Please note that the upper galleries are not suitable for people with mobility impairments as the historic nature of the building requires climbing a narrow staircase.

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Champions Trophy draw:

• Qualifying Group A:

  • Vaughan Hamilton

  • Zak Eadle

  • Claire Fahey

  • Benedict Yorston

• Qualifying Group B:

  • Lewis Williams

  • Nino Merola

  • Darren Long

  • Will Flynn

• First quarter-finals:

  • Match 1: Nick Howell (1) vs Robert Fahey (3)

  • Match 2: Bryn Sayers (6) vs Qualifier A or B

  • Match 3: Qualifier A or B vs Robert Shenkman (5)

  • Match 4: Steve Virgona (4) vs Taylor-Matthews (2)

• Second quarter-finals:

  • Match 5: Loser Match 1 vs Winner Match 2

  • Match 6: Loser Match 4 vs Winner Match 3

• Semi-finals:

  • Match 7: Winner Match 1 vs Winner Match 6

  • Match 8: Winner Match 4 vs Winner Match 5

• Final:

  • Match 9: Winner Match 7 vs Winner Match 8