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The first semi-final was between the two home favourites: Camden Riviere, one of four World Champions who got their start in tennis at the club, and Nick Howell, now their head professional. Howell won the first two games as Riviere, as in the quarter-finals, had trouble controlling his shots early in the match, especially on the railroad return. But Riviere quickly adapted. His own read of Howell’s return of serve was impressive, neutralising one of his opppnent’s biggest strengths. Riviere won the next four games, before being pinned back again by Howell’s railroad, this time mixed in with a few side-walls and demi-piques. Howell evened up the score at 4-all, keeping the points quick and preventing Riviere from getting into his free-flowing retrieval game. Riviere leant into his openings game, knowing that if he missed he would still pull Howell out of position to cover it, allowing the retrieving game to start again. Riviere won the last two games to seal the first set.

Riviere established his regular fully flowing style by the second set. Howell’s main source of counter-play was hitting hard and low down Riviere’s left-handed backhand side to try and cause an early error. Riviere neutralised that threat too by serving wide, slow bobbles that Howell had trouble getting a full swing at. Riviere pushed ahead to a 5/2 lead. Howell put up one last stand of resistance, increasing his openings count in the process across the final two games, but could not prevent Riviere’s progression to the final.

The second semi-final was between Ben Taylor-Matthews and John Lumley. The match immediately established a tempo of long rallies, with Taylor-Matthews’s consistency being tested against Lumley’s retrieval. Though in isolation they were equally matched, Lumley had a lock on the service end and the natural advantage that it gives. Even when Taylor-Matthews did lay a chase, he couldn’t hold the serve for long with Lumley refusing to let any ball go unplayed. Lumley raced from 1-all to 5/1 before Taylor-Matthews pulled one back with his longest serving stint of the set. Lumley was unfazed, winning the set in the following game with a grille.

Taylor-Matthews was more expansive in the second set, hitting harder and flatter, ensuring that his misses would still result in chases, albeit long ones that were difficult to defend. Still, Lumley rarely saw a ball he thought he couldn’t chase down, waiting out the rally patiently until the opportunity arose to hit a winner. Lumley took four games before a frustrated Taylor-Matthews could register one, winning it with back to back dedans. The play evened up from there, with Taylor-Matthews playing some of his best tennis of the match, but he couldn’t reverse the early deficit. Lumley won the match with a force at the middle of the dedans, setting up a rematch of the French Open final against Riviere.

The tournament concludes on Sunday with the final, which will be played as a best-of-five-set match.

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Match results:

• 3:30 PM: Camden Riviere (1) def Nick Howell (3) 6/4 6/3

• 5:15 PM: John Lumley (2) def Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) 6/2 6/3

Order of play for Sunday (all times EDT):

• 12:00 PM: Camden Riviere (1) vs John Lumley (2)

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The first quarter-final was between eighth seed Bryn Sayers and second seed John Lumley. Sayers had the stronger start, quickly putting on a two-game lead with the help of his trademark high serve. Lumley battled back to 3-all, but Sayers’s target hitting helped him win a couple more games, leaving Lumley to hunt galleries to stop Sayers’s run at the service end. Lumley had to scramble a makeshift defence to prevent Sayers getting a set point, digging deep to recover the situation to 5-all. Sayers tried to force for the bottom forehand corner of the dedans for the first four restes of the deciding game, but came out worse off on three occasions. The fourth, he tried to push across to Lumley’s backhand but the Philadelphian had it covered. Changing ends, as soon as Sayers missed his shot at the grille, Lumley pounced, sealing a come-from-behind set. In the second, Lumley was now the aggressor, with Sayers now on the defensive. The Queen’s Club professional still managed to provide a strong counterattack, as the first three games were tightly fought, each going to deuce. Lumley won all three, and the resistance broke from Sayers. Lumley took the following two games to love, now having an unassailable lead in the set. He wrapped up the match moments later, securing his place in the semi-finals.

The next match was a rematch from the recent French Open quarter-final between Robert Shenkman and Camden Riviere, where Shenkman had won a set off the World Champion for the first time. Shenkman kept his railroad tight, targeting Riviere’s return of serve. He knew that if he could prevent the left-hander from turning and slapping the ball at the dedans, he had a chance to put it away in the next few strokes. He had a two-game lead and threatened points for 4/1, but Riviere started increasing the tempo, extending out the rallies and slowly working Shenkman over until he made an error. The World Champion drew level at 3-all before Shenkman edged ahead again with a long, hard-fought deuce game. Riviere dropped to his haunches — racket on the floor — and grimaced. He then put in a big shift, working hard to chase down everything over the next two games to go 5/4 up. By then, Shenkman’s resistance faded, ceding the final game of the set.

Shenkman persisted with his railroads for the second set, once again picking on Riviere’s return of serve as the World Champion dropped his intensity back off. He again had a two-game lead before Riviere kicked himself out of his rut. Back to his fully firing best, Riviere took the next four games. Shenkman leant on his forcing to take the following two to even up the set at 4-all. Shenkman had chances to go 5/4 up, but both went begging — Riviere scampered around the court at full speed to cut everything off. Riviere then shut Shenkman out of the final game to win the match.

The third quarter-final was between Steve Virgona and the home court pro Nick Howell. It was a must-win for Virgona to keep a realistic pathway for securing a place in the World Championship Eliminators. Virgona set out to blast Howell off court from the start of the match. He was particularly honed in on the forehand side of the dedans, causing several volley errors from Howell. Howell’s returns of serve were poor, putting several straight into the net. Virgona took the first five games of the match at a blistering pace. Howell managed a token game towards the end, but Virgona was sitting well with a one-set lead.

Howell finally kicked into gear in the second game of the second set with some forces past Virgona’s left-handed forehand. He then got on a roll, winning the next three games despite some impressive finishes from Virgona. Howell’s court coverage improved, dealing well with the hard-cutting shots coming his way. He failed to convert a 4/1 lead before his radar went off-target. The set pivoted on the sixth game, with both players having chances to convert. Eventually, Howell pulled ahead, but there was little now separating the two. Howell saved some of his best volley defences for the 4/3 game before going 5/3 up by beating a half-yard chase. The following game, he repeated the feat, taking the set by beating a 1 and 2 chase.

He saw no reason to change tactics for the third set, aiming at the dedans at every opportunity. He helped himself to a 3/0 lead. Virgona battled back, leathering the ball around the court as hard as he could and, crucially, accurately too. Virgona’s run brought the scoreline back to 3-all. It was clear the hazard-end player was able to dictate the play, as the fate of the match see-sawed across the seventh game. Howell tipped it his way, but Virgona struck back immediately on the next game. The 4-all game was decided by a margin of inches, with both players having opportunities to push ahead, but it was Howell that emerged victorious benefiting from two forehand half-volley errors. He won the final game moments later, cementing his place in the semi-finals.

The last of the quarter-finals was between Rob Fahey and Ben Taylor-Matthews. Taylor-Matthews was patient, playing through the reste for as long as necessary until Fahey was out of position, allowing him to slide the ball into open space and pick up the point or a chase. Fahey’s error count was uncharacteristically high, putting several balls straight into the net and gifting Taylor-Matthews the lead. Taylor-Matthews won four games on the bounce to go from 1-all to 5/1 up. Fahey never gave up on the set, at first throwing in a few forces to break Taylor-Matthews’s stride, then fixing his errors and playing intelligent tennis. He took four games of his own without going to deuce, let alone giving Taylor-Matthews a set point. It sent the set into a deciding game. Taylor-Matthews picked off a dedans and two gallery chases early in the game, changing ends at 30-15. Though he won one and lost one, Fahey gave him a high bouncing ball he was able to spike for a winner, holding off Fahey’s comeback to win the first set.

Taylor-Matthews’s renewed confidence carried over into the second set, going 3/0 ahead as Fahey struggled to control his return of serve. However, soon enough the former World Championship was able to recalibrate, hitting his force much better and putting Taylor-Matthews under pressure again. He beat several short chases with dedans to prevent Taylor-Matthews extending his lead even further, instead holding himself at the three-game deficit. Every time Taylor-Matthews looked like he might make the decisive break, Fahey pulled out some clutch shot to stay in it. He battled back to 4-all, then went ahead with the help of his force. The final game went to deuce, but once Fahey laid two short chases the set was effectively his, completing a five-game streak and levelling the match.

For the third set, Fahey once again let Taylor-Matthews away to a faster start, again having taken his foot off the accelerator and letting his opponent drive ahead. Taylor-Matthews played as consistently as he had all match, with Fahey’s errors racking up again. Again, Taylor-Matthews had a four-game lead and again he threatened to push ahead further. And again, Fahey refused to go quietly, yet again finding another level. He blasted his we through three games of his own, before a tightly fought eighth game with both players having advantages — including a chase off call that Taylor-Matthews wasn’t too pleased by. He eventually got justice, taking the game to go 5/3 ahead. Fahey responded by taking the next game to love. Taylor-Matthews recovered the serve with a pair of galleries, and though he lost the subsequent chases, he was able to get two balls to cut severely off the back wall to gain the decisive advantage. A last gallery chase later, Taylor-Matthews slid the ball down Fahey’s backhand to win the chase and the match.

The quarter-final results clear up the standings in the World Race, with just the semi-finals and the British Open still to play. John Lumley and Nick Howell are mathematically assured of their place in the Eliminators, with Lumley guaranteed to be first seed. Taylor-Matthews extends his lead over Virgona, now over 6,000 points, meaning Virgona would need to make at least the British Open final to retain a chance of qualification. Taylor-Matthews trails Fahey for the third Eliminator spot by just 56 points, meaning any separation between the two at the British Open, or a Taylor-Matthews win in the IRTPA Players’ Championship semi-final, will be key in determining the seedings.

Play continues on Saturday with the two semi-finals. The tournament win conclude with the final on Sunday.

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Match results:

• 12:15 PM: John Lumley (2) def Bryn Sayers (8) 6/5 6/0

• 2:00 PM: Camden Riviere (1) def Rob Shenkman (7) 6/4 6/4

• 4:15 PM: Nick Howell (3) def Steve Virgona (5) 1/6 6/3 6/4

• 6:00 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) def Rob Fahey (6) 6/5 4/6 6/4

Order of play for Saturday (all times EDT):

• 3:30 PM: Camden Riviere (1) vs Nick Howell (3)

• 5:15 PM: John Lumley (2) vs Ben Taylor-Matthews (4)

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The afternoon session began with Vaughan Hamilton taking on the homegrown champion Camden Riviere. Riviere took some time to get fully into his stride, as Hamilton benefited from a couple of backhand errors from the World Champion. Hamilton launched into the match, trying to beat the normally lightning-quick Riviere for pace. Hamilton took two early games as a result, but his wild swings soon started gifting Riviere easy points. Riviere raced from 3-all to 6/3 in a matter of minutes. Though Hamilton took the first game of the second set, Riviere’s forcing at the dedans was unstoppable. From the service end, he kept the pressure on under the grille, even if Hamilton was able to escape with a few dedans of his own. Riviere won the next five games, with Hamilton taking one further consolation game before the end. Riviere finished the match in under an hour, setting up his place in the quarter-finals.

Next followed a match between Robert Shenkman and Max Trueman. Trueman matched Shenkman in the long, manoeuvring rallies that characterised the first set, as each tried to work the other into a position to hit a target. They matched each other all the way to 3-all in the first set. Trueman was the first to break the tempo, looking to be a bit more explosive with his shots, helped by the fact that Shenkman was sending down railroads. He had points for a 5/3 lead, but Shenkman was able to lean on his experience to shut it down. The set hung in the balance before Shenkman won two games from deuce. Leading 5/4, Shenkman won the next game to love to take the set. Trueman could not maintain the intensity that Shenkman was applying in the second set, with more errors creeping into his play. Shenkman piled on the games, running away with the match to book his spot in the quarter-finals.

The evening session pitted Henry Henman against the home professional Nick Howell. Henman took the game to Howell immediately, jumping out to a 3/1 lead as he attacked at every opportunity. Howell didn’t panic, holding off on his cut-volley and instead trying to work Henman into awkward positions before striking. He established the initiative, turning Henman’s initially positive play into a more desperate attempt to stay in the contest. The pair went past 3-all and 4-all before Howell went ahead on the back of a costly forehand volley error from Henman. Howell took the set on his second set point. Howell brought out his cut-volley for the second set, quickly establishing a lead. He got the better of Henman in their aerial battles, though as the set drew towards its end, he started to put more on the penthouses. Henman had a chance to mount a late comeback, having points for 4/5, but Howell shut things down instead, taking the match as expected.

The first round concluded with a match between Steve Virgona and Josh Dodgson. Virgona was in no mood to hang around, using his pace and cut to win points quickly. Dodgson’s flair was no match for Virgona’s ruthlessness, with the Chicago professional winning the first four games of the match. Dodgson got on the board with a string of dedans, but Virgona didn’t let it grow further. He dominated play when he was at the service end, maintaining the pressure across every reste. Dodgson won a few late games after picking up a chase, but it wasn’t enough to challenge Virgona for the set. Virgona barely missed a ball across the second set, while Dodgson was unable to find any effective counter-play, failing to challenge for a single game.

Play continues on Thursday with the quarter-finals. The matches will have implications for the World Race, with Virgona needing both to beat Howell and for Ben Taylor-Matthews lose to Rob Fahey to maintain a realistic chance of qualifying for the Eliminators.

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Match results:

• 12:15 PM: Camden Riviere (1) def Vaughan Hamilton 6/3 6/2

• 1:45 PM: Robert Shenkman (7) def Max Trueman 6/4 6/1

• 5:30 PM: Nick Howell (3) def Henry Henman 6/4 6/3

• 7:15 PM: Steve Virgona (5) def Josh Dodgson 6/3 6/0

Order of play for Friday (all times EDT):

• 12:15 PM: John Lumley (2) vs Bryn Sayers (8)

• 2:00 PM: Robert Shenkman (7) vs Camden Riviere (1)

• 4:15 PM: Nick Howell (3) vs Steve Virgona (6)

• 6:00 PM: Rob Fahey (6) vs Ben Taylor-Matthews (4)

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The main draw of the IRTPA Players’ Championship began with the breakout performer from the Satellite, Pete Dickinson, taking on the second seed, John Lumley. Dickinson knew the match would be a step above anything he faced in the Satellite, so determined the best course of action was to finish the point as quickly as possible, often aiming at the dedans. He battled with Lumley through a back-and-forth deuce battle in the third game for over ten minutes. Lumley was winding up through the gears, giving Dickinson less and less to work with. Soon, Dickinson was overextending, taking on shots that weren’t paying off. Lumley was happy to sit in and wait for the error. Though Dickinson was able to pick up a few more games, Lumley eased himself to a straight-sets victory.

Next, the Satellite finalist Josh Smith challenged the fourth seed Ben Taylor-Matthews. Taylor-Matthews set up a defensive wall, barely letting a ball past him while redirecting it into good areas which garnered errors from Smith. The fourth seed cruised through the first five games, before Smith stole one back with a couple of controlled backhand volleys. It didn’t stop Taylor-Matthews’s constant drumbeat of a march, never panicking or being drawn into a false shot. Smith took the first game of the second set as well, but Taylor-Matthews quickly established a lead there too, wrapping up the match with a flurry of targets.

The evening session began with Ben Dickinson and the finalist from the previous edition, Rob Fahey. Like his brother, Dickinson sought to take the game to his much higher-ranked opponent, playing his shots with freedom. Fahey was trying to punish him into the corners, playing several open-stance cut shots off the back foot in an effort to avoid having to run, but the court wasn’t giving him much to work with. The pair exchanged games for the first half of the first set before Fahey broke away with a couple of quick games. Dickinson pulled one back but Fahey took the first set regardless. In the second set, Dickinson had the advantage whenever he could make Fahey move quickly across the court. However, the former World Champion’s control of the ball when it was in his hitting zone meant such opportunities were few and far between for the young American. Fahey didn’t overexert himself on his way to a two game lead in the second set. Dickinson never gave in, fighting back to within a point of 4-all, but Fahey pulled a pair of trademark forces out of the bag to deny him. Not wanting to give his opponent another chance, Fahey put in one final push to close out the match.

The cocktail match was between the World Number 8, Bryn Sayers, and the World Number 9, Lewis Williams — a battle between the two most recent winners of the Satellite. Williams leant into his pace from the start of the match, hitting low drives for long chases or picking his moments for straight forces. From the service end, he opted for his underarm twist again to restrict Sayers’s options off the back wall. It earned him a 4/1 advantage, with Sayers having to work his way through the long rallies to turn the tables in his favour. Sayers also started to get his high serve to stick tight, setting up a structured rally that he was able to control, pulling back two games as a result. But once Williams was able to recover the service end, it was enough for him to get over the line and take the first set.

Williams was still the aggressor in the second set, keeping Sayers on the back foot and giving his defensive play a workout. But Sayers held the line, occasionally turning the play around and working Williams from corner to corner. The pair split the first half of the set evenly, each going on short runs of two games but never drawing a lead. Williams was two points away from a 5/3 lead with two long chases, but he turned on a pair of balls on the back wall that stayed low and he couldn’t recover. His power shots were also dropping a fraction in accuracy giving Sayers the opportunity to attack the grille corner. Sayers won the last ten points of the set without conceding a chase, evening the match at 1 set all.

Sayers’s run continued until the second game of the third set, picking up another six points before finally making a racket error. From there he began forcing everything he could, which proved a high-risk, high-reward strategy even if it did mean the play was on his terms. The set hinged on the third game, which broke towards Sayers after several changes of ends. He pushed on through the next couple as well, extending a 4/1 lead. Williams refused to let the match run away from him, digging in for the sixth game. Sayers had a 40-0 lead in the following game but sent a series of shots into the net instead. They locked horns at deuce again, with Williams again coming out on top. Sayers was finally able to close out the match, again with the help of the back wall nick to win his final two required games to progress to the quarter-finals.

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Play continues on Thursday with the remaining first round matches. The quarter-finals then follow on Friday.

Match results:

• 12:15 PM: John Lumley (2) def Pete Dickinson 6/3 6/2

• 1:45 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) def Josh Smith 6/1 6/1

• 5:30 PM: Rob Fahey (6) def Ben Dickinson 6/3 6/3

• 7:15 PM: Bryn Sayers (8) def Lewis Williams 3/6 6/4 6/3

Order of play for Thursday (all times EDT):

• 12:15 PM: Camden Riviere (1) vs Vaughan Hamilton

• 1:45 PM: Robert Shenkman (7) vs Max Trueman

• 5:30 PM: Nick Howell (3) vs Henry Henman

• 7:15 PM: Steve Virgona (5) vs Josh Dodgson

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The Satellite final pitted the unseeded Josh Smith against top seed Lewis Williams, the two being future colleagues at Newport. After opening the match with a bobble as is his trademark, Williams quickly settled into an underarm twist in a match that involved more positional play than brute forcing. He kept his error rate low, patiently waiting out the backhand exchanges for Smith to make a mistake. Williams took the first five games without much threat — no long, drawn-out deuce games even though Smith was regularly getting a couple of points each game. Smith took his sole game of the first set right at the end, but Williams was unperturbed, wrapping up the set moments later.

Smith’s second set started better, switching up the play to Williams’s forehand and eliciting a few errors while also looking for the targets more regularly. He took the first two games. Williams responded in kind, looking to take on the force more regularly as well and sliding dedans after dedans past Smith. He was particularly brutal on short chases, putting Smith immediately under pressure in the air. Williams won the last four games of the match to seal the title.

The win marks Williams’s first singles title since the 2025 Tambour Tour at Leamington. As World Number 9, he will go up against the World Number 8, Bryn Sayers, in the first round of the IRTPA Players’ Championship on Wednesday, with the first round of the competition splitting across Wednesday and Thursday.

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Match results:

• 4:00 PM: Lewis Williams (1) def Josh Smith 6/1 6/3

Order of play for Wednesday (all times EDT):

• 12:15 PM: John Lumley (2) vs Pete Dickinson

• 1:45 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) vs Josh Smith

• 5:30 PM: Rob Fahey (6) vs Ben Dickinson

• 7:15 PM: Bryn Sayers (8) vs Lewis Williams

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The first semi-final saw Max Trueman take on the first seed Lewis Williams. Trueman’s confident target hitting and heavy cut immediately had Williams on the back foot. The Tuxedo pro blitzed through the first set, winning it quickly despite some late recovery from Williams. Williams reset for the second set, building a small lead having to continue to work hard on his defensive play. Trueman pinned it back, keeping his foot on the accelerator all the way to a 5/3 lead instead. His control never gave Williams the space or freedom to play his big, expansive shots. A game away from defeat, Williams managed to get a few forces away while Trueman struggled to close it out. Williams took the next two games relatively comfortably to set up a deciding game. Trueman opened with a pair of chases which split one apiece. Williams responded with a pair of chases of his own, the first of which was called chase off at two yards, but the second he won by generating enough angle to pick the error from Trueman. He then closed the set moments later with a backhand grille.

Into the third set, Trueman was still the player with the initiative, something he never had lost throughout the match to that point. He won the first two games, but Williams’s resistance was growing stiffer. Beating a short chase with a dedans at deuce seemed to fire Williams into an extra gear. Despite Trueman’s continued resistance, he could only find a single further game in the match, with Williams pushing on to victory.

The second semi-final was between the two unseeded players, Josh Smith and Pete Dickinson. Dickinson’s fast feet and nagging retrieval kept the ball alive long enough for Smith to make an error. He didn’t give Smith many easy shots, keeping the ball off the penthouse and away from the middle of the court. Dickinson won the first three games of the match. Smith found some counterplay, threatening the targets and drawing Dickinson in to the volley. His changes of paces and deft touch on the serve also had Dickinson under more pressure as he won the next five straight games, even though no games were blowouts. Dickinson stole one back after saving set point in the 5/3 game, but Smith’s march was otherwise uninterrupted. Smith relaxed into the second set. His strokeplay got more assured, picking off targets easily and becoming largely unbothered by Dickinson’s retrieving. Every now and then, Dickinson would pull off an unexpected, unretrievable ball but it didn’t stop Smith’s constant accumulation of points. It took until the sixth game of the second set for Dickinson to put another notch on the scoreboard, but by that point the match was out of reach, with Smith cruising into the final to play his future colleague.

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The final of the Satellite will take place on Tuesday, followed by the main draw of the IRTPA Players’ Championship commencing from Wednesday.

Match results:

• 5:00 PM: Lewis Williams (1) def Max Trueman (4) 3/6 6/5 6/3

• 7:15 PM: Josh Smith def Pete Dickinson 6/4 6/1

Order of play for Tuesday (all times EDT):

• 4:00 PM: Lewis Williams (1) vs Josh Smith

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Backing up from his two hour battle in the preliminary round, Pete Dickinson was back on court for the morning session, facing off against Vaughan Hamilton. Hamilton started confidently, easily picking up the first two games. But Dickinson soon settled. His underarm twist serves were able to pin down Hamilton, generating a soft return which he was able to get on top of with a flying volley. Dickinson started to put some games on the board, getting past Hamilton in a couple of tight deuce games. Hamilton was clearly feeling the pressure of being the favourite, as his stiff shots often couldn’t find their targets, while Dickinson was playing with complete freedom. He won three straight games to secure the first set. The loss of the set weighed on Hamilton, who struggled to get his game going for the second. He couldn’t find any venom to his shots, as Dickinson was able to mop up whatever did come his way before sending a bullet out of nowhere towards a target. Dickinson held a comfortable lead throughout the second set, giving up only two games in the middle. His eventual victory overturned more than ten points of handicap difference, vaulting him into the semi-finals.

Next was a battle between Josh Dodgson and Josh Smith. The opening exchanges saw a lot of short points, ending in either a winner or an error in the first couple of strokes. Neither player wanted to get into long, gruelling rallies, taking the high-risk approach early. The initiative see-sawed both ways over the first four games, before finally tipping towards Dodgson as Smith racked up the errors. Dodgson won the final four games, winning the set with a behind-the-back flick.

The flow of the match flipped for the second set as though the memory of the first had been erased. Now it was Dodgson making wild swings and Smith the measured and composed play. Smith immediately pushed out a three-game lead without much resistance. Dodgson briefly recovered to win two of the next three games, but thereafter it was one-way traffic for Smith. His force and his volley excelled, going on an eight-game run to take both the second and third sets. His win was the second upset of the day, setting up an all-unseeded semi-final against Dickinson.

The evening session saw Ben Dickinson go up against Max Trueman. Trueman was relaxed throughout, demonstrating an efficiency in his swing that allowed him to control the ball no matter where he was on the court. His changes of pace were subtle yet effective, catching his opponents out on multiple occasions. Dickinson couldn’t muster any counter-play as he was suckered into Trueman’s casual façade. Dickinson took just the single game in the first set, but his play became more expansive in the second. He caught Trueman flat-footed in the first few games of the second set, as the Tuxedo professional gave up a series of unforced errors. The first few games were evenly exchanged before Trueman tidied up his act, zeroing in on his targets as he wrapped up the final few games quickly to ensure his progression.

The last of the Satellite quarter-finals was between Lewis Williams and Henry Henman. The pair were tightly matched over the first few games, but Williams was keen to show why he deserved to be in the world top 10. He tested Henman’s backhand time and time again, with the younger professional often coming out worse off from the longer rallies, making errors on his half-volley. Williams would also occasionally throw in a force down the forehand side, picking on Henman’s volley as it beat him for pace. Henman couldn’t quite turn the tables, hitting more penthouses whenever he tried to attack. Williams’s lead snowballed, running away with the first set. Williams didn’t slow down for the second set, hitting a no-look ‘tweener winner on the first point as he quickly pushed out a four-game lead. With the match seemingly out of his grasp, Henman started swinging for the fences, taking two back-to-back games. Williams stuck to his method, utilising the galleries well to close out the match.

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Play continues on Monday evening with the two Satellite semi-finals followed by the final on Tuesday evening. The main draw of the IRTPA Players’ Championship begins on Wednesday.

Match results:

• 11:00 AM: Pete Dickinson def Vaughan Hamilton (2) 3/6 2/6

• 12:15 PM: Josh Dodgson (3) lost to Josh Smith 6/2 2/6 0/6

• 5:00 PM: Ben Dickinson lost to Max Trueman (4) 1/6 3/6

• 6:30 PM: Lewis Williams (1) def Henry Henman 6/1 6/2

Order of play for Monday (all times EDT):

• 5:30 PM: Max Trueman (4) vs Lewis Williams (1)

• 7:15 PM: Pete Dickinson vs Josh Smith

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The only match of the preliminary round was between the Royal Tennis Court’s Jack Josephs and New York’s Pete Dickinson. Dickinson was off to a flying start, leaping at full stretch to volley anything before the back wall and take time out of Josephs’s structured play. He stretched out a two-game lead and was ahead in the third before Josephs shored up his defences, betting that consistency would beat out extravagance. He took four of the next five games as the match evened out. Joseph eked out the 5/4 game before having the rub of the green go his way in the tenth — Dickinson’s shot hit the bandeau direct into the last gallery while Josephs got his side-wall to nick out. Dickinson lost the set with a ball that struck the highest part of the net and refused to drop over.

Dickinson leant further into his attack for the second set, with the increase in intensity catching Josephs off guard as the latter relaxed after winning a tight set. Dickinson took the first three games before Josephs could pin him down again by putting ball after ball down the backhand side. Josephs battled hard to stay in touch, but the early deficit proved too much to overcome. His comeback at 2/5 40-15 was cut short by a tight not-up call on a back wall half-volley, leaving him looking around in disbelief — yet it gave Dickinson the service side from which he was able to close out the set.

Josephs didn’t start the third set in a good mood, arguing with the marker over a ball he thought had been carried during the first game. Even so, Dickinson was still slightly overreaching in his shots, allowing Josephs to take the first two games of the final set. Josephs almost extended it to three — playing deuce and with a short chase already in the bank — but Dickinson’s quick hands recovered a ball off the bottom of the grille bandeau, winning the point before blasting a dedans to beat the short chase. It kicked his set into gear. Josephs was ahead in the following game as well, but a few unforced errors gave the advantage to Dickinson, who won four games in a row. Down 2/4 0-30 and with the match and a main draw place slipping away, Josephs found his cleanest series of strokes in the set. A tight deuce game ensued, with Dickinson’s tambour play from both ends coming up against Josephs’s cuts down the backhand side. Josephs eventually found a short chase to take the game. The following game was just as tight, with long, cagey rallies. Eventually, Josephs succumbed to a couple of backhand errors, putting Dickinson 5/3 ahead. Yet Dickinson could not close it out, with Josephs battling for every ball. Josephs saved match point in the 5/4 game, playing chase better than 2, with a force that caught the neck of Dickinson’s racket. The match went to a deciding game instead. Dickinson laid two short chases midway through the game which Josephs was unable to beat. Dickinson finished the game with a cross-court forehand that died under the grille.

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Dickinson’s win puts him both into the Satellite quarter-final as well as entry into the IRTPA Players’ Championship main draw. The other match scheduled for the day was awarded to Ben Dickinson, who received a walkover from James Stout. The Satellite continues on Sunday with the four quarter-finals, while the main draw begins on Wednesday.

Match results:

• 11:00 AM: Ben Dickinson def James Stout w/o

• 12:30 PM: Jack Josephs lost to Pete Dickinson 6/4 3/6 5/6

Order of play for Sunday (all times EDT):

• 10:30 AM: Vaughan Hamilton (2) vs Pete Dickinson

• 12:15 PM: Josh Dodgson (3) vs Josh Smith

• 5:00 PM: Max Trueman (4) vs Ben Dickinson

• 6:30 PM: Lewis Williams (1) vs Henry Henman

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Camden Riviere is expected to return to defend his title, seeking to win his fifth singles World Championship. However, despite being an American champion, the home court advantage could be titled in the favour of his challenger, the home court professional John Lumley, should the latter progress through the Eliminators in early 2027.

Lumley currently leads the World Race, and is guaranteed one of four places in the Eliminator series with two events to play: the IRTPA Players’ Championships and the British Open. Nick Howell, Rob Fahey and Ben Taylor-Matthews are also likely to qualify, though Steve Virgona retains a possibility of taking the fourth spot. The Eliminators will take place between March and May 2027.

It will be the first time in 113 years that the World Championship Challenge will be held in Pennsylvania, with the only other instance being the 1914 match between the American amateur Jay Gould II and the British professional Fred Covey. Gould later won the first US Open at the venue in 1919 against Walter Kinsella — a challenge match between the leading professional and leading amateur in the country.

Philadelphia also hosted the third running of the Ladies World Championships in 1989, which saw John Lumley’s mother Penny Lumley win her first World Championship title. It will also mark the third consecutive Challenge to be held in the United States, which last occured in the Wayne Davies era in the early 1990s.

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The challenge is expected to be held in late September 2027, with the exact dates to be announced at the end of November 2026. The guaranteed prize fund for the event has been annouced at $USD80,000, beating out one other undisclosed bidder.

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The women’s doubles final paired the sisters Claire Fahey and Sarah Vigrass against the Aiken duo of Kadi Melrdum and Claire Voegele. Fahey played up at the galleries, a rare position for her in either women’s or open play. She was called into action early, as Meldrum and Voegele were at full stretch retriving balls from Vigrass, putting it back onto the service wall above the penthouse for Fahey to sweep up. Meldrum and Voegele took the third game of the match with a force at the dedans that Fahey called to Vigrass to leave. After then, Fahey and Vigrass were composed and diligent. Both of them, especially Vigrass, were sending down tight railroads, making life difficult for their opponents. From the hazard end, they kept the ball tight against the main wall, giving Voegele tough balls to play on her forehand. The sisters didn’t lose another game, wrapping up the match in little over half an hour. It marked Sarah Vigrass’s first French Open doubles title, while Claire Fahey has now won the French Open doubles with nine different opponents.

The men’s doubles final saw battle between two pairs that had both won multiple French Opens together. Former World Champions Robert Fahey and Steve Virgona rejoined forces for just the second time since losing their title in 2015. They faced the top two ranked doubles players in the world, Camden Riviere and John Lumley. Fahey opted to receive from Riviere, keeping the right-hand to left-hand service combination that would persist through the whole match. Fahey and Virgona set up with Fahey at the back, while Riviere and Lumley played server-up. From the start, Fahey’s volley defence were being tested as Riviere and Lumley put ball after ball on target for the dedans. The match cruised along at a leisurely pace until the fourth game, when suddenly Riviere stepped up to another level. The other three players were forced to respond, resulting in some rallies of world class doubles quality. The first seeds had a two-game lead, which they managed to hold on to for the rest of the set owing to Lumley’s tight railroad serves restricting Virgona from turning on the ball. Riviere and Lumley took the first set comfortably.

At the start of the second set, Fahey and Virgona tested out the combination with Virgona at the back. Though they won the first game, they soon abandoned it. Riviere and Lumley took advantage, making few mistakes and continuing to give Fahey’s volley a thorough going-over. The set was notable for the sheer number of balls falling flush against the back wall off the penthouse, making several unreturnable. It was an affliction that bit all four players at various points. Lumley and Riviere combined masterfully, mixing up the faster paced forces with slower paced volleys as they cruised through the set, winning six straight games. The third set was a carbon copy of the second, with Fahey and Virgona winning only the first game. Fahey lashed a few forces, but Riviere and Lumley were never really troubled. Their victory was their fourth French Open as a pair, and their first as a pair for any Open since 2022.

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The tour next moves to Aiken for the IRTPA Players’ Championship in late October.

Match results:

• 1:30 PM: Claire Fahey & Sarah Vigrass (1) def Kadi Meldrum & Claire Voegele 6/1 6/0

• 3:00 PM: Camden Riviere & John Lumley (1) def Robert Fahey & Steve Virgona 6/3 6/1 6/1

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The women’s final pitted the two sisters against each other for the first time in a French Open. Claire Fahey entered the match as the strong favourite, seeking a 51st Open title that would put her clear of her husband Robert Fahey as the most prolific Open player of all time. Meanwhile, Sarah Vigrass was seeking her second Open title to add to her sole British Open from 2016. Fahey’s serving early was solid, her demi-piques and underarm twists restricting Vigrass to shots back down the middle of the court. Eventually, Vigrass was able to work it more towards Fahey’s backhand, picking off a few galleries to earn the serve. Vigrass’s best game was the second. Thereafter, Fahey’s error count dropped lower and lower. Vigrass camped out in the backhand corner, awaiting Fahey’s cut shots, but Fahey was able to slide them down the forehand side instead. Towards the end of the set, Vigrass tried to take on a bit too much, leading to more errors. Fahey took the first set with a pair of hard and flat forces at the dedans. In the second set, Vigrass had a couple of opportunities to take the fourth game, thanks to some errors on Fahey’s backhand. Even so, Vigrass was unable to take a game as Fahey won the second set and her 14th French Open title.

The men’s final was proceeded by a homage to Pascal Guerout, a recently deceased member of the club, with anthems then played on the cello by Butterfly Paterson. The galleries were filled with junior players from all three French real tennis clubs to witness the match between Camden Riviere and John Lumley. Riviere started the match well, generating good angles on his boast and dragging Lumley up the court and into errors on his half-volley. Riviere’s railroads were tight as well, and his cause was helped by Lumley regularly finding the net tape across the first set. Once the rally got going, Riviere picked off the tambour, finding a productive spin as he cruised through the first set conceding just 11 points.

Lumley’s force improved at the start of the second set, finding more of the dedans rather than the penthouse. He won the first game of the set, but still couldn’t control his serve, feeding Riviere main walls. In a flash, Riviere was 3/1 ahead, seemingly halfway to a straight-forward victory. But Lumley wasn’t interested in letting the match be a procession. He took the game on, becoming the aggressor in most of the restes. The score evened up at 3-all and then 4-all as Riviere was eating main wall forces. Riviere switched his serve to a high drop, looking to break up the pattern of play. It worked, earning him a handful of set points. The penultimate point was the highest quality yet witnessed during the match, with Riviere hitting his maximum foot speed and reading several difficult bounces and spins. Riviere won the set defending chase ten.

Lumley was motivated from the success he had in the middle of the second set and applied it to the third. His railroad was much improved, regularly dancing across, and he covered the third ball of the rally to place it into the grille. Riviere couldn’t turn on the railroad as easily, preventing him from playing his signature disguised force. Lumley built a three game lead as Riviere’s play grew erratic. Soon, Lumley had set point at chase fourteen. Riviere lined up to put the ball into the hazard galleries and Lumley ran forward to cover it. But the ball hit the gallery ledge instead, with Lumley using his quick hands to boast the ball out of trouble, but fractionally losing the chase. The following rally, still set point, lasted almost a minute which included Riviere retrieving a ball that struck the underside of the grille bandeau. Eventually, Lumley squeezed one past Riviere’s defences for a grille, fist-pumping in celebration as he won the set.

The grilles were coming thick and fast for Lumley at the start of the fourth set. He took the first game, but finally Riviere’s high work rate started paying off. Having lost four straight games across the third and fourth sets, he won three in a row with audible shouts of “c’mon” after each one. Yet still Lumley refused to concede, fighting back one game at a time. By now they had both lost half a yard of pace but the casual observer would never have known, given how they were throwing themselves around the court. Lumley went from 2/4 down to leading 5/4, before Riviere struck a couple of grilles to send the set to a deciding game.

With his eyes firmly fixed on the blue square, Riviere struck another two grilles in the 5-all game, but Lumley also beat Riviere’s backhand with his cut-volley to reach 30-all. Two gallery chases and the players changed ends. Riviere beat the first chase to hold a championship point. Playing the second, after a long rally, Lumley struck the high back wall above the grille and out towards the hazards. Riviere had it covered, playing a volley over his head facing away from the net to keep the ball alive. But Lumley slotted the ball into the hazard instead to save the match. From deuce, Lumley would have two set points of his own. The first, Riviere battered into the dedans but the second Lumley struck the grille to take the set.

Riviere found himself in a fifth set for just the fourth time in ten years — and his third against Lumley. Both players dropped their intensity slightly, with Riviere starting to cramp up in his legs and wrist. Even so, after tight deuce battles in the second and third games of the set, Riviere still had legs. He sprinted flat out from the grille to the hazard second gallery to play a boasted volley to chase four, his momentum carrying him into the galleries in the process. It helped him break away to 4/2, but, just as he had done for the whole match, Lumley fought back, winning the next three games to go 5/4 up. The tenth game went to deuce, and with a chase already in the bank, Lumley lined up at the dedans, hoping for championship point. Instead, it struck the forehand edge, darting across the court for a chase six. Changing ends, Riviere’s cut short into the forehand corner was called chase off, Another chase followed, before a flush back wall against Lumley forced the match into a deciding game.

It was the first time in over twenty years an Open singles final went to a final game in the final set, the previous occasion being at the 2006 Australian Open where Ruaraidh Gunn beat out Robert Fahey. Riviere opened the game with a ball at the grille, earning a volley error from Lumley. Lumley then struck two balls into the second gallery, the second of which took a chunk of the net on its way through. The chases were resolved with a pair of openings — one grille for Lumley and one dedans for Riviere. In the following rally, 15-30 down, Lumley had a looping ball off the penthouse and lined up to hit the grille again, but missed high. Riviere put the ball into the galleries instead. Yet another long rally followed, with Lumley still targeting the grille, but Riviere found a ball off his toes and into the dedans via the main wall. With another championship point and now at the service end, Riviere picked off Lumley’s return of serve into the hazard galleries with a backhand volley to win the match. He turned to the dedans with his hands on his head. The crowd gave the newly crowned French Open champion a standing ovation. After shaking hands with Lumley, Riviere held his arms aloft, soaking in the applause.

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The tournament concludes on Sunday with the doubles finals. Both of the singles finalists will join forces for the doubles, with Vigrass & Fahey playing Meldrum & Voegele, while Riviere & Lumley will team up against Fahey & Virgona.

Match results:

• 2:30 PM: Claire Fahey (1) def Sarah Vigrass (2) 6/0 6/0

• 4:00 PM: Camden Riviere (1) vs John Lumley (2) 6/0 6/4 1/6 5/6

Order of play for Sunday (all times CEST):

• 1:30 PM: Claire Fahey & Sarah Vigrass (1) vs Kadi Meldrum & Claire Voegele

• 3:00 PM: Camden Riviere & John Lumley (1) vs Robert Fahey & Steve Virgona.

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The first of the women’s semi-finals was between Amy Wintersteen and World Champion Claire Fahey. Fahey was calm and methodical, conceding just a single point and a single chase across the first five games of the match. Then a series of three racket errors saw Fahey 0-40 down for the first time. She didn’t panic, sticking to her methodical pattern of playing out safe rallies until Wintersteen made an error. Fahey saw out the set and didn’t concede more than a point a game for the rest of the match, winning both sets in 10 minutes each.

The second semi-final was between Kadi Meldrum and Sarah Vigrass. Meldrum was able to extract regular chases out of Vigrass, often by beating her into the corners. Consequently, Vigrass spent plenty of time down the hazard end, becoming a target for Meldrum’s strong backhand. Even so, Vigrass’s experience and shot quality were enough to start quickly piling on games. Every time it went to deuce, Vigrass lifted, refusing to give Meldrum more than a single game in the match. Though the match only lasted thirteen games, it took over an hour to complete as Meldrum battled for every point or chase she could find. Vigrass moved on to the singles final to play her sister, Claire.

The afternoon session saw the first of the doubles semi-finals, starting with the first seeds John Lumley and Camden Riviere playing the third seeds Bryn Sayers and Ben Taylor-Matthews. Riviere took on Sayers’s serve for the first set, immediately getting a chase and holding the service end until the end of the fourth game having conceded just two points during their stint. Eventually, Taylor-Matthews was able to slot a second gallery chase, enough to earn them some time on serve to win a game. Together, Riviere and Lumley had everything covered, and, with Riviere hitting hard ball wherever possible, Taylor-Matthews and Sayers could do little more than dump the ball into the net. By the end of the first set and into the second, Riviere got more brazen with his play, running up the court into ridiculous positions or taking on wild shots, all while hardly putting a ball onto the back wall or penthouse. Lumley sat back in a supporting role, helping starve Taylor-Matthews and Sayers of chases and enabling Riviere to go wild. By the third set, Taylor-Matthews’s fight had evaporated, as Riviere played a number of forces that Taylor-Matthews never picked up. Sayers switched to the back, which bought the pair a couple of games midway through the third set. But it was not enough to stop Lumley and Riviere advancing to the final.

The other semi-final was between the newly formed pair of Robert Shenkman and Vaughan Hamilton and the recently reunited former World Doubles Champions Robert Fahey and Steve Virgona. Fahey opened the match with a high serve to Shenkman which was duly deposited into the dedans. They kept searching for a repeat of that ball over the next few games, not serving themselves until the third game. In general they tried to keep the ball to Fahey, as Virgona tried to tear the cover off any ball that came near him. Shenkman and Hamilton were forced into adopting a defensive setup, with Hamilton dropping back to provide more coverage of the dedans. By then, though, the first set had gotten away from them, as Fahey and Virgona won all but one game.

The second seeds went up 3/1 in the second set, but they were encountering tougher resistance from their opponents. They started to fall a bit flat, unable to sustain the intensity from the first set and with more unforced errors creeping in. The hyper-partisan crowd cheered loudly for every winner or opening struck by Shenkman and Hamilton, as the pair took the next four games. They picked on Fahey, icing Virgona out of the contest. However, as the end of the set drew near, Fahey and Virgona reignited, a couple of winners from Virgona bringing them back into the contest and sending the set into a deciding game. Three different return of serve responses from Fahey set up the key lead, then a few tight Fahey railroads finished the job for a two-set lead.

Despite not winning the set, Hamilton and Shenkman’s run taught them that they were very much in the contest, and they used that confidence to break away first in the third set. Fahey was struggling to sustain his volleying from the back of the court as Shenkman and Hamilton continued to pick on him. They went three games ahead before Virgona stepped up to try and recover the situation. At 30-all in the 5/3 game, playing two chases, Shenkman played a defensive to try and turn the set back in their favour but Hamilton’s two volley errors meant they couldn’t get over the line. Instead, the set went to another deciding game. Four good returns of serve from Shenkman had them on the front foot in each of the rallies but they couldn’t turn it into a decisive advantage. Fahey and Virgona had the first match point, playing chase nine. Finally, Shenkman’s defensive vigil came to an end. Fahey and Virgona moved into the final, earning themselves a day’s break.

The only doubles semi-final was between the Aiken pair of Kadi Meldrum and Claire Voegele, and the newly united duo of Amy Wintersteen and Grace Beglan — Claire Fahey and Sarah Vigrass qualified directly into the final. Beglan and Wintersteen put Beglan at the back, sweeping up all of the returns of serve. Wintersteen was happy to play a supporting role at the galleries as the pair pushed out to a three-game lead. Meldrum was able to pull it back, playing some high-position net volleys combined with some accurate high-serves while Voegele played the anchor at the back. They won five straight games to take the set.

Voegele made her presence felt in the second set, adapting to the play of the court and patrolling the back well. Meldrum provided able assistance with her powerful volleys often resulting in winners as they built a three-game lead. Beglan and Wintersteen fought back for a couple of games but ultimately could not compete as errors crept into their play. After hitting the winning shot, Voegele and Meldrum embraced, moving on to the final to face the Vigrass sisters.

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Play continues on Saturday with both the women’s and men’s singles finals. The doubles tournament will conclude on Sunday, also with the men’s and women’s finals.

Match results:

• 10:00 AM: Claire Fahey (1) def Amy Wintersteen 6/0 6/0

• 11:30 AM: Kadi Meldrum lost to Sarah Vigrass (2) 1/6 0/6

• 1:00 PM: John Lumley & Camden Riviere (1) def Bryn Sayers & Ben Taylor-Matthews (3) 6/1 6/0 6/2

• 4:00 PM: Robert Shenkman & Vaughan Hamilton (4) lost to Steve Virgona & Robert Fahey (2) 1/6 5/6 5/6

• 7:00 PM: Amy Wintersteen & Grace Beglan lost to Kadi Meldrum & Claire Voegele 4/6 2/6

Order of play for Saturday (all times CEST):

• 2:30 PM: Claire Fahey (1) vs Sarah Vigrass (2)

• 4:00 PM: Camden Riviere (1) vs John Lumley (2)

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The women’s French Open draw began in the early afternoon with a match between the American pair of Amy Wintersteen and Claire Voegele. Evenly matched, the fate of the match was to be determined by who could control the service end as each was able to work the other around the stroke area at the hazard end. Chases were key, often coming as hazards or long chases from lower-paced shots gliding over the net. The players exchanged games through the first half of the first set before a sequence of aces put Wintersteen ahead. Wintersteen had set point and chase 3 in the 5/3 game but Voegele lofted one into the top corner of the dedans. Voegele then extracted some volley errors from Wintersteen to send the set into a deciding game instead. Voegele increased the pace of her shots for the last game, winning it and the set.

By the second set, Voegele was starting to get on top of Wintersteen’s serve, but Wintersteen was having the better fortune in the rallies. Again, they exchanged games for the first half of the set before Wintersteen again broke ahead to 5/3. This time she was able to hold on, winning it with a pair of aces off slow overhead serves that Voegele misread off the penthouse. Wintersteen kept her form going into the third set, reading the court better and nailing her placement as she took the first four games of the set.

The men’s semi-final followed with the World Champion, Camden Riviere, taking on the defending French Open champion, Steve Virgona. Virgona opted for a high pace of play, trying to hit the ball through Riviere. But more often than not, the ball sat up off the back wall with enough time for Riviere to run it down. Virgona tried to work the rally into his forehand, but Riviere was more than matched to the task. The World Champion played his variations in pace to perfection, hitting hard and flat for the targets when necessary, but also taking pace out of the ball to land it on the base of the tambour or to get behind Virgona’s backhand. His read of the ball was excellent as well, fully in tune with the court, reading the bounce every time as he turned on balls behind him. He was also on top of Virgona’s railroad, boasting the ball cross-court and winning short chases from Virgona’s backhand. Virgona only took one game in the match — the ninth — as Riviere worked his way to victory in a little over an hour.

The other semi-final was between second seed John Lumley and fourth seed Ben Taylor-Matthews, each seeking their first French Open title. Though Taylor-Matthews won the first game, Lumley settled into the match sooner. He was hitting targets with ease from any ball in open space, punishing any inaccuracy from his opponent. He also picked off Taylor-Matthews’s railroad serve with ease, making it difficult for the Westwood professional to get into the rally. Taylor-Matthews tried other options at times, but Lumley was quick to shut it down, making Taylor-Matthews fall back to his railroad. From the service end, Lumley was following the textbook structure for each reste, executing it without error. Lumley won five straight games to go 5/1 up before Taylor-Matthews pulled back a couple of games. Unfortunately for Taylor-Matthews, it couldn’t last, with Lumley taking the first set.

The rallies became more dynamic in the second set, as Taylor-Matthews extended out the play. But Lumley was able to pick balls off the tambour with ease and direct the ball into wherever Taylor-Matthews wasn’t. Taylor-Matthews tried serving his railroad from more centred in the court but the extra arc on the ball led Lumley to cut-volley to short chases instead of forcing for the dedans. Taylor-Matthews won an early game, but Lumley was still in control, going to a two-set lead.

At 3/1 to Lumley in the third set, it seemed that the match would shortly be wrapped up. But Lumley started to lose his focus, putting more balls onto the penthouse and missing his shots at the grille. Taylor-Matthews finally started getting success on his serve, and he started to string a few games together. The added pressure kept drawing more errors from Lumley, with Taylor-Matthews first pulling level and then pushing ahead. He reached a 5/3 lead, as his play kept pulling Lumley forward and out of position only to wrap the ball behind him sending him running back towards the dedans. Taylor-Matthews had 5 set points in that game — including one called off on chase six for a ball that rolled out of the back wall nick — eventually winning the set as Lumley found the high part of the net.

Going into the fourth set, Lumley refound his concentration after a five-deuce battle in the fourth game. He came out on top by hitting his targets once again and was able to push on for victory. He quickly found himself 5/1 up, dropping just one further game before securing victory and setting up a final showdown against Riviere.

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Play continues on Friday with the men’s doubles semi-finals as well as both the single and doubles women’s semi-finals.

Match results:

• 1:00 PM: Amy Wintersteen def Claire Voegele 5/6 6/4 6/1

• 4:00 PM: Camden Riviere (1) def Steve Virgona (3) 6/0 6/1 6/0

• 7:00 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) lost to John Lumley (2) 3/6 1/6 6/3 2/6

Order of play for Friday (all times CEST):

• 10:00 AM: Claire Fahey (1) vs Amy Wintersteen

• 11:30 AM: Kadi Meldrum vs Sarah Vigrass (2)

• 1:00 PM: John Lumley & Camden Riviere (1) vs Bryn Sayers & Ben Taylor-Matthews (3)

• 4:00 PM: Robert Shenkman & Vaughan Hamilton (4) vs Steve Virgona & Robert Fahey (2)

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

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The doubles tournament kicked off with the top two players in the world, Camden Riviere and John Lumley, teaming up for the first time in four years. Their opponents were the qualifiers, Bertie Vallat and Clément Depreeuw, the latter being the only Frenchman in the main draw competition. A relaxed if not jovial mood hung in the air as no player was under any illusions as to the final result. Riviere and Lumley were more than happy to bunt the ball around, playing games within the game to test the abilities of their opponents. Vallat leaned into it, defending well where he could, while Depreeuw was clinging on to protect his wellbeing, relishing the opportunity to play at a higher standard. As an example, Riviere won the first set with the highest of moon balls, utilising the full height of the Parisian court and getting the ball to bounce up steeply into the dedans. Vallat and Depreeuw managed to pick up a game in each set — and two in the third, but the inevitable result came to pass.

The second match saw two well-established pairs go head to head. Levi Gale and Lewis Williams took on Bryn Sayers and Ben Taylor-Matthews. Williams opted for Taylor-Matthews’s serve in the first set. The first game set the tone, a long deuce battle, with the players slamming the ball around the court in the hope of a misread or racket error. Gale and Williams took the early lead and built from there, with their forcing a particular highlight. They went 5/2 up but couldn’t quite hit their shots to find the final game, as Sayers and Taylor-Matthews battled back to set up a deciding game. A challenged but fair out of court call above the dedans penthouse saw Gale and Williams reach set point first, but playing chase 5, Williams’s force hit the bottom ledge of the penthouse. Now at the service end, Sayers cleaned up the next two points, taking the set.

Gale and Williams retained the serving setup for the second set. By now, Taylor-Matthews was relishing his anchor role, with Sayers interceding where necessary to try and extract a winner. Their six-game streak was broken at 3/0 in the second set with a lobbed dedans from Gale off the tambour. It didn’t slow them down, though, as Taylor-Matthews came out of his shell and started blasting forces that beat their opponents for pace. Sayers stayed on Gale’s serve for the third set. Sayers and Taylor-Matthews dropped in their intensity, allowing Gale and Williams to stay level throughout. They eventually ground their way to a 5/3 lead, making sure they stayed in the rally for as long as possible and awaiting the mistake. Sayers stepped up to win the next game with some more kill shots before Williams brought up a set point with his forcing. Then the rain started falling, with the water dripping through an open window and forming a puddle on the last gallery line. Play was paused briefly while they mopped up, resuming briefly for a couple of points. Taylor-Matthews and Sayers were desperately trying to finish the match, but some last-ditch defending from Gale and Williams saw them take the set instead.

The rain prevented the resumption of play for the fourth set by 20 minutes while the players waited for the court to be safe to play again. Sayers still took Gale’s serve on the resumption. After Sayers and Taylor-Matthews took an early lead, Gale and Williams dialled it up a notch, knowing that it was do or die. They went all out on the attack, with Gale putting in an extended effort at the back of the court, testing their opponents’ defensive skills to their fullest extent. Sayers and Taylor-Matthews held firm, putting strings to everything until eventually Gale made an error. They built a four-game lead which proved to be unassailable despite a late surge from Gale and Williams, earning a date with Lumley and Riviere.

The third match saw the reuniting of former World Doubles Champions Robert Fahey and Steve Virgona, for just their second outing together since losing the title in Tuxedo in 2015. Their opponents were Benedict Yorston and Zak Eadle, the latter drafted in to replace Erik Barker who withdrew after qualification. Eadle took Virgona’s serve for the first set as the number 2 seeds played server-up. Despite his jackrabbit energy at the back of the court there was little that Yorston could do against the might and power of Fahey and Virgona. Eadle tried to support where he could — earning their only game of the first set with a force at the dedans — but even that was futile as Fahey and Virgona had everything covered. Yorston switched onto Fahey’s serve for the next two sets, and even attempted putting Yorston at the front, but still couldn’t make progress. Their only game in the third set came from a high back wall winning gallery. Fahey and Virgona completed a straightforward victory, ensuring their progression to the semi-finals.

The cocktail match was between Henry Henman and Nino Merola and the fourth seeds Robert Shenkman and Vaughan Hamilton, the latter joining forces for the first time. The match began with Henman on Shenkman’s serve, and the play immediately hit a high intensity. Shenkman got hit twice in the first two games while trying to leave the ball to his partner. The ball pinged around like a pinball machine with Henman and Hamilton the noted aggressors. Shenkman’s defensive prowess was being tested to its limits, with Henman and Merola earning a two-game lead in the first set. A good run from the service end saw Hamilton and Shenkman bring the set back to 5-all, saving two set points along the way as Merola’s shots missed their intended openings. In the deciding game a series of devastating cut-volleys from Henman brought them three set points and a chase, which was duly defended.

Shenkman opted to stay on Henman’s serve for the second set. The play was fairly evenly matched. Hamilton was aiding Shenkman more so he didn’t have to do it all on his own from the back, whereas Henman never stopped dancing across the middle of the court, protecting Merola’s backhand side. Neither pair got more than a game ahead until Merola and Henman stole a game at 4/3, leaving Hamilton and Shenkman to have to fight their way back in again, again recovering to 5-all without difficulty. This time, Shenkman got on top of Henman’s serve, kicking off some sublime counterattacking from Merola. They reached 15-all before the first change of ends, and an opening each way made it 30-all. Both sides had set points that were seen off before Henman and Merola laid two chases to get back down the service end. Playing chase 4, Shenkman lobbed the ball high. Despite Henman’s appeal to leave it, Merola played it but it went out of court via the penthouse. They picked off Merola’s volley on the next point to go to 1 set all.

The teams still couldn’t be separated going into the third set. As the players were getting more tired, errors were creeping in, with neither Shenkman nor Merola able to maintain the same defensive intensity at the back of the court. This time, Shenkman and Hamilton were the ones to break away first, extending out to 5/3 despite being at the hazard end. They found themselves 40-15 up, before Henman went into beast mode to try and defend the set points, adopting Chisholmesque positioning to try and get ahead of the play. He recovered to deuce, but gave away another set point with a ball that refused to fall over the net cord, with the set then going to Hamilton and Shenkman.

Hamilton and Shenkman built a small lead at the start of the fourth set. The play was becoming increasingly sloppy. Henman was getting bolder, Shenkman was trying to draw on his experience playing long matches, Merola was experimenting with his high serve and Hamilton was hitting it harder and harder. Shenkman and Hamilton got on top, extending a big lead in the set. With match point, playing chase seven, Shenkman hit a cut volley into Merola’s feet, which caused Shenkman and Hamilton to clap hands in celebration, only for the call to be made that it had bounced first for a chase off. Moments later, playing a hazard chase, Shenkman framed a ball over and into the hazards. Henman chucked his racket on the floor in annoyance having lost the match, while the others looked around to confirm that the chase had, in fact, been beaten.

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Play continues on Thursday with the singles semi-finals and the first of the women’s draw. The doubles competition continues on Friday with the semi-finals.

Match results:

• 10:00 AM: John Lumley & Camden Riviere (1) def Clément Depreeuw & Bertie Vallat 6/1 6/1 6/2

• 1:00 PM: Levi Gale & Lewis Williams lost to Bryn Sayers & Ben Taylor-Matthews (3) 5/6 2/6 6/4 4/6

• 4:00 PM: Benedict Yorston & Zak Eadle lost to Robert Fahey & Steve Virgona (2) 1/6 1/6 1/6

• 7:00 PM: Robert Shenkman & Vaughan Hamilton (4) def Nino Merola & Henry Henman 5/6 6/5 6/3 6/1

Order of play for Thursday (all times CEST):

• 1:00 PM: Amy Wintersteen vs Claire Voegele

• 4:00 PM: Camden Riviere (1) vs Steve Virgona (3)

• 7:00 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) vs John Lumley (2)

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The first quarter-final pitted the Amateur Champion Robert Shenkman against the World Champion Camden Riviere. Shenkman’s retrieval skills and read of the court were tested immediately as Riviere drew him around the court as though a puppet on a string. Because Riviere always had him under pressure, Shenkman knew he needed to capitalise on any opportunity if and when it presented. But Riviere’s ability to turn an ordinary rally ball into something special allowed him to quickly push ahead in the match. Shenkman didn’t win his first game until he was 0/5 down in the first set. Riviere’s intensity dropped at the start of the second, losing the first game and having a six-deuce battle in the third. Still, Riviere never let the set go from his grasp, extending to a two-set lead.

As the match drew into a third set, Shenkman was slowly learning how to deal with some of Riviere’s excesses, taking on a slightly tougher ball than he normally would in order to put some pressure on Riviere’s strokeplay. It worked out, as he was making few mistakes and several targets to boot, earning a narrow lead. He then beat a chase one when game point down at 3/2 with a dedans, moments later going to a 4/2 lead. A few tough balls later and he converted it into a three-game advantage, with Riviere missing his shots more frequently. Shenkman’s main wall was paying dividends, though he would eventually take the set with back-to-back grilles. Shenkman became just the fourth player to take a set from Riviere in the quarter-finals or earlier since the latter became World Number 1, joining Bryn Sayers from the 2024 US Open, Nino Merola from the 2023 British Open and Tim Chisholm (twice) in the 2016 British Open.

Riviere was not pleased at losing the third set and came out firing in the fourth. But Shenkman refused to give in, blasting main walls past Riviere to keep in contention through the nervy third and fourth games. Riviere eventually rediscovered the grille to break out a lead again. The World Champion enjoyed his front-runner status once again, pressing home for victory as Shenkman overextended himself trying to get back into the contest. Shenkman battled hard to the end, saving six match points before eventually succumbing.

The second quarter-final of the day was between Lewis Williams and Steve Virgona. Virgona had a slightly slow start, dropping the first two games as he sought to excise any errors from his game. Virgona took the next three games, as the match began to lull into a seemingly predictable stanza. Williams sought to shake up the flow by striking a couple of dedans to regain the lead. However, he struggled to make progress when at the service end, allowing Virgona to go up 5/4 instead. A lackadaisical game from Virgona followed, with Williams sending the set to a deciding game. A series of booming Virgona forehands then saw the Chicago professional win the last game to love, securing the set.

With the previous day’s five-set match still in the legs, Virgona couldn’t find his usual intensity to start the second set, as Williams played his way to a decent lead. The Brit was getting plenty out of the court, using the large openings to his advantage and extracting cut from the back wall. Towards the end of the set, Virgona started experimenting with different serving variations, moving away from his standard left-handed railroad. But it didn’t work, giving Williams a ball in space he could thump towards the dedans. He went on to win the set without dropping a game.

Virgona broke the drought in the first game of the third set but it was clear that he didn’t have his usual energy when moving around the court, often giving away balls under the grille if he didn’t think he could get there. Even so, he had to fight in order not to let the set slip away from him again, with the pair playing out a series of forehand-to-forehand rallies. Williams had points for a 4/2 lead but could not convert, letting Virgona tie it up at 3-all, 4-all and then 5-all, without putting his nose in front. Virgona hit another level for the deciding game, opening it with a forehand winning gallery and winning it to love.

The fourth set continued in much the same manner: Williams would push ahead by a game, then Virgona would battle it back. Despite most games going to deuce, neither player could find a way to break away, not helped by the fact both of them were finding it difficult to kill the ball or disengage from the cross-court rallies. The pattern broke in the 4-all game, where Williams’ force hit the bottom lip of the dedans to give Virgona a lead for the first time. It didn’t last, with Williams battling into a third deciding game of the match. Again, Virgona seized the initiative, as Williams was barely inches off target with his shots. He went 40-15 up, before winning the match on his first match point.

The third quarter-final was between the unseeded Vaughan Hamilton and the second seed John Lumley. Though Hamilton initially came out looking to play his shots, holding an early lead in the set, he got suckered into Lumley’s long rallying style. The pressure of wanting to end points led to some questionable shot choices. Lumley won four straight games to go 5/2 up, before Hamilton found some counterplay by making effective use of the winning gallery. He took another two games before Lumley could close out. In the second set, Lumley was much more aggressive, driving into the corners and sending Hamilton chasing after the ball in mad retrieval. Though Hamilton could get to most of them, Lumley’s relentlessness was enough to break away, with the scoreboard pressure doing the rest of the work. Hamilton’s attitude was little changed for the third set, which began with a violent swing at the ball. At first it didn’t pay off, conceding a three-game deficit. But eventually, Lumley became more conservative as the end of the match approached, while Hamilton kept swinging, hitting his targets. He brought it all the way back to 4-all, but Lumley had the serves to see the match out, moving on to the semi-finals.

The cocktail match was between long-standing rivals and doubles partners Bryn Sayers and Ben Taylor-Matthews. There was little to separate them in the opening stanzas. Sayers went back and forth between his railroad and his high serve, trying to find a ball that would trouble his opponent. Taylor-Matthews was consistent, if passive, as it would often be Sayers who broke out of the cross-court exchange first. Sayers broke away first, running away with the set despite each of the games being close.

Neither player was having much joy from the service end as the bouncy court made serving tight difficult. Taylor-Matthews’s railroad proved stronger than Sayers’s high serve, which, given the steep penthouse, he could not get to run flush. The Westwood pro took the first three games of the second set. As he grew more confident with his serve he starved Sayers of the service end, with the latter’s only theory of gaining points coming from a force on the return of serve. Taylor-Matthews’s unerring control allowed him to start pressuring Sayers’s backhand, winning through the second set and building a lead in the third in the process. Though Sayers scraped back a couple of games midway through the third set, Taylor-Matthews was well and truly in control.

Sayers’s serving improved at the start of the fourth set, which, when coupled with a determination to drive the ball, saw him win the first two games. Taylor-Matthews responded to the increased pace by doing the same, pulling the score back level. Both were fighting hard, including a memorable diving get from Sayers that saw him tumble to the floor only to get up and continue a rally that ultimately ended in a Taylor-Matthews grille. Taylor-Matthews swept through the next five games to secure an unassailable lead. His victory set him up for a semi-final against John Lumley.

Taylor-Matthews and Virgona’s wins each guarantee them semi-final points in the World Race. Virgona’s victory was a must-win, as without it he would need to find a two-round difference over Taylor-Matthews at one of the two remaining tournaments in the cycle. Unless one or both of them reaches the final in Paris, Virgona will need to go a round further at both of the last two events to overtake Taylor-Matthews into the fourth position in the Eliminators — which would have been the case regardless of Taylor-Matthews’s result as the remaining tournaments carry a higher points weighting.

Play continues on Wednesday with the first doubles matches in the main draw. The singles resumes on Thursday with the two semi-finals, which will also see the first round of the women’s draw.

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Match results:

• 10:00 AM: Camden Riviere (1) def Robert Shenkman (5) 6/1 6/2 2/6 6/2

• 1:00 PM: Lewis Williams (7) lost to Steve Virgona (3) 5/6 6/0 5/6 5/6

• 4:00 PM: Vaughan Hamilton lost to John Lumley (2) 4/6 2/6 4/6

• 7:00 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) def Bryn Sayers (6) 2/6 6/1 6/3 6/3

Order of play for Wednesday (all times CEST):

• 10:00 AM: John Lumley & Camden Riviere (1) vs Clément Depreeuw & Bertie Vallat

• 1:00 PM: Levi Gale & Lewis Williams vs Bryn Sayers & Ben Taylor-Matthews (3)

• 4:00 PM: Benedict Yorston & Zak Eadle vs Robert Fahey & Steve Virgona (2)

• 7:00 PM: Robert Shenkman & Vaughan Hamilton (4) vs Nino Merola & Henry Henman

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The morning session began with the first round match between second seed, John Lumley, and the previous year’s semi-finalist, Levi Gale. For Lumley, it was the first step on the road to completing his career Grand Slam, while for Gale it was the first tournament after a several month lay-off due to injury. Lumley immediately started testing Gale’s backhand, giving him difficult half-volleys under the battery wall. Lumley was content to push the ball around, making Gale work hard for every point, scraping the ball back over and over again. Gale tried to find counterplay by forcing or boasting for the dedans and the grille, but it came at the increased risk of a penthouse or hazard chase. Pace seemed to be the only thing that could beat Lumley’s retriving, as Gale stayed within touching distance throughout the first set. Lumley had set point in the 5/4 game, brought up with a ball that nicked on the back wall after a long rally, with Gale dropping his racket to the floor in dismay. Gale recovered the next point, sending the set into a deciding game instead. Lumley was not fussed, playing a solid final game dropping only a couple of points to Gale’s drives as he secured the first set.

Even though Gale was matching Lumley thoughout the second set, the World Number 2 still managed to maintain a slight edge on the scoreboard. Lumley was giving away marginally fewer free balls, helping him maintain the slight upper hand. Lumley eventually got a break going his way, courtesy of an extended run at the service end. He raced through the last few games in his easiest run of the match. The start of the third set was slightly delayed, owing to rain falling onto the court through an open window. Gale tried reaching deep into his bag of tricks to change his fortunes for the third set, but it only seemed to play Lumley further into the match. A late few blasts at the dedans from Gale were not enough to prevent Lumley from taking the match.

The second match of the morning was a past-and-present head-to-head from Bristol. Current head pro, Zak Eadle, took on his predecessor and fourth seed, Ben Taylor-Matthews, the latter locked in a battle for the fourth World Race place against Steve Virgona. Eadle’s hunt for quick winners was doing him a disservice, as Taylor-Matthews was ready and able to mop up anything loose, playing the ball back into difficult areas in his trademark style. Though he took on the targets when open, including half-a-dozen winning galleries, Taylor-Matthews was playing largely without risk. Eadle won his first and only game midway through the first set. By the third, Eadle’s fight had abandoned him, allowing Taylor-Matthews to ease his way to victory. His win also secured a return back to the World Number 4 ranking, should Virgona not reach the tournament final, easing his draw for the upcoming rankings events in the World Race.

A long break followed before the evening session, when Steve Virgona stepped on court to get his French Open campaign underway against Bertie Vallat. Virgona went straight into top gear, slamming every ball at pace throught the rallies. Vallat sat back and absorbed, knowing the ball was not going to cut down on the Parisian court and that he would be able to put in a decent return regardless. Despite the lopsided posture, the match was a test to see who would make an error first. They exchanged games throughout the set, until Vallat started to really get his railroad to kick. With Virgona having to scrape the ball off the wall, Vallat had the opportunity to attack back, winning the last two games and taking the first set.

Vallat’s confidence in winning the first set carried into the second, becoming more expansive in his shot-making. Virgona, meanwhile, wound it back slightly, seeking to play more consistent tennis without hitting everything at top speed. Counterintutively, this made Virgona more ruthless, as Vallat had less to work with off the penthouse and Vallat had more to defend in the dedans. Virgona quickly took command of the set, keeping the points short and leaving Vallat with more questions to answer.

By the third set, Vallat was on the back foot but holding his own during the rallies, whilst also taking advantage of the set pieces to pick off dedans and grilles. With chases few and far between, the advantage fell to the player at the service end. Tension was high, with Vallat having to make several tight chase and stroke calls at the hazard end, despite being unsure of the French chase rules. Once again, they were exchanging games for the first six games, before Virgona broke away late in the set. Virgona had set point in the 5/3 game, but sent a ball onto the tambour which bounced out into the hazards — just avoiding the stroke line. Vallat instead sent the set to a deciding game. Vallat opened it with a grille, but then conceded two chases. A straight force and a cut volley later, Vallat had a set point, but despite Virgona hitting the penthouse, the ball fell flush to the back wall and Vallat didn’t have the strength to boast it out. Two more chases at deuce, and Virgona had a set point that Vallat defended with a ball dying under the grille. Virgona went up again after striking the dedans, but upon changing ends again, Vallat fended it off with a force of his own. Back down the service end again, Vallat served two tight serves to finally press his seal on an hour-long set.

Virgona took a break before the start of the fourth set, returning without the glasses he had been wearing in the match to date. It took him the first game to readjust, before refinding his groove to take the next couple easily. A couple of tight deuce games followed, with Virgona first stretching to a three-game lead. Vallat stole one back before the seventh game, which went through eight deuces, eventually going the way of Virgona. Vallat took a cheap game, but Virgona was strong enough to close out an equally cheap one to close another hour-long set.

Into the fifth and final set and with the match approaching a fifth hour, nothing could separate the two as the lead oscillated from side to side. Vallat was increasingly frustrated and vocal while Virgona was tiring; neither were hitting their targets as well as they had earlier in the match. They battled to 3-all before Virgona finally broke ahead with a ball striking the bottom ledge of the dedans and recoilling back onto the penthouse for Virgona to slot into the winning gallery. Vallat had to dig deep, fighting back against the two game deficit. Vallat had a chance to send the match into a deciding game, but couldn’t convert it. At deuce at 5/4, a ball with very heavy top spin kicked high over Virgona’s head. He controlled it down to a chase 6, which was enough to secure the match. In doing so, he kept his World Race alive, as he could ill afford any deficit to Taylor-Matthews.

Two hours behind schedule, the last of the first round matches saw eighth seed Nino Merola take on the unseeded Vaughan Hamilton. Hamilton immediately found his length on his railroad, getting several to nick out in the first game alone. In general, they were both keeping the points short, attacking the cut-volley or driving or boasting for long chases. Merola spent the first set experimenting with his serve, but the steep Parisian penthouse prooved a difficult beast to tame. At the other end, Merola was falling foul of Hamilton’s serving as he gave away point after point on the cut-volley. Seeing his opponent was struggling, Hamilton pressed harder, refusing to allow the Radley professional to establish any rythmn. It took until he was 0/4 down in the second set before he could raise his level to match Hamilton. He found three games, and saved a set point on chase one, but Hamilton ultimately secured the two-set lead.

With Merola now settled on his railroad and finding his strings more regularly, Hamilton was under scoreboard pressure for the first time in the match. Defensive strategy went out the window eas each tried to bully the other off the court. Merola led the set from start to finish, never extending by more than two games. He backed his forcing, beating several short chases as Hamilton grew annoyed at his inability to close the match. Merola took the third set and carried on into the fourth. He was determined to belt the cover off of the ball, making Hamilton defend force after force, or deal with the follow-up ball down the backhand side. Hamilton’s howls of anguish could be heard reverberating around the cavernous space. Still, Merola made enough mistakes for Hamilton to keep in touch, going game-for-game through the fourth set. Eventually, it went to a deciding game, where Hamilton picked off two early chases. Merola’s cut-volley won one and lost one, before a floated ball down Merola’s forehand gave him a force and a set point. He netted the next one, before another force brought a second set point. Vaughn muscled back the next but it was onto the penthouse, letting Merola slide it down the backhand to beat a diving Hamilton to send the second consecutive match into a fifth set.

After both players took a break to change shirts, Hamilton returned to the final set and increased his work rate, trying to pressure Merola around the base of the tambour. Merola’s forcing hot hand abandoned him, pushing more onto the penthouse or wide onto the back wall. With the match pushing past midnight, Hamilton put a run of games together for the first time since the start of the second set. With time running out, Hamilton goaded Merola into some poor shot choices while rediscovering some of his serving prowess from the first set. Hamilton won the final set without dropping a game, securing a quarter-final berth against Lumley.

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Play continues on Tuesday with the four doubles quarter-finals. The doubles tournament will begin on Wednesday.

Match results:

• 9:00 AM: Levi Gale lost to John Lumley (2) 5/6 2/6 3/6

• 11:30 AM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) def Zak Eadle 6/1 6/0 6/0

• 5:00 PM: Bertie Vallat lost to Steve Virgona (3) 6/4 3/6 6/5 3/6 4/6

• 7:30 PM: Nino Merola (8) lost to Vaughan Hamilton 1/6 3/6 6/4 6/5 0/6

Order of play for Tuesday (all times CEST):

• 10:00 AM: Camden Riviere (1) vs Robert Shenkman (5)

• 1:00 PM: Lewis Williams (7) vs Steve Virgona (3)

• 4:00 PM: John Lumley (2) vs Vaughan Hamilton

• 7:00 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) vs Bryn Sayers (6)

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The early morning start kicked off the main draw with sixth seed, Robert Shenkman, taking on qualifier Erik Barker. Shenkman was looking to get his campaign off to a good start, having reached the semi-finals of the same competition twelve months prior. Barker’s forcing knocked Shenkman off his railroad almost immediately, switching instead to a slower side wall serve. Shenkman’s patient play was then rewarded, using his experience of the court to understand that he had the time to wait for the right ball to put away. Barker, meanwhile, kept his foot to the floor throughout. This meant everything that wasn’t perfectly on target was something Shenkman could easily mop up. Shenkman’s early lead was never troubled, easing his way to the first set.

With the glare from the sun beaming through the Eiffelean skylights and into the hazard end, Shenkman donned a cap for his receiving end play. Not wanting to linger longer than he had to, Shenkman opted for openings and chases wherever possible. Barker, who started the set aiming for patience and instead found himself even more rushed. By the end of the third set, Barker was swinging for the fences, allowing Shenkman to coast through to the finish line.

The afternoon beckoned with the matchup between Lewis Williams and Darren Long. Both players struggled to land their serve, with their side walls and underarm twists skipping off the steep penthouse, while their railroads opened them up to the force. However, it was Williams who was better able to deliver the ball from open space into a target. Long’s cause wasn’t helped by the ball cutting more than expected, leading to several not-up calls against him. It allowed Williams to push out a 5/1 lead in the first set. Long’s railroad then started to bite, regularly threatening to spin back up onto the bandeau, including one that fell clean into the winning gallery. He won the next four games, sending the set

to a deciding game. In response, Williams became more experimental with his serving. Failing to land a first serve, Williams leaned back on a bobble which Long hammered into the main wall. After going down the hazard end, with a chase, Williams tried to do the same, but Long’s instinctive volleys muscled the ball back over the net to take the set.

Williams broke Long’s seven game run in the third game of the second set, despite Long landing several nick railroads along the way. In the fourth game, Long served a railroad-bandeau-winning gallery, with his jaw dropping to the floor in astonishment at his feat. Williams’s response was to blast the main wall at every opportunity. He brought the set back level at 3-all and then 4-all as the players exchanged dedans. Williams reached his first set point after Long rolled over his ankle when stepping up to play the return of serve. He carried on, but Williams secured the set moments later.

Nothing slowed the battering the dedans was getting in the third set as both players took on the large opening from anywhere they could on the court. Long in particular put his wellbeing at stake in trying to defend them, at one point diving to the floor to get out of the way. As such, both players were having better runs from the hazard end, and neither was spending much time looking for chases. After Long had the better start, Williams had the better run, with more than a third of his points coming in targets.

Though Long looked a forlorn figure in the fourth set, he never threw in the towel. Williams still had to fight for every point, even though as Long’s movements became more laboured. Still, Williams was not able to twist in the knife as the players exchanged games throughout the set. Only in the final game did Williams truly look in control, securing his place into the quarter-final.

The next match was between Benedict Yorston and Bryn Sayers. Sayers never let Yorston establish his usual scrambling retrival, even on the bouncy Parisian court. Sayers kept the pressure up with unrelenting play around the angles of the tambour, while from the hazard end he picked off galleries whenever able. Yorston’s lack of offensive weapons stung, as Sayers was able to easily chase down anything coming his way. Sayers took the first set without trouble and built a big lead in the second. Yorston played himself into the match, picking up a couple of games at the end of the second set before going toe-to-toe with Sayers throughout the third. The Queen’s Club pro’s intensity dropped a bit, as some mistakes bled into his game that Yorston could capitalise on. They battled to 3-all, before Sayers once again broke away, refusing to let Yorston get anywhere near the set.

The last match of the day saw the World Champion, Camden Riviere, return to the Paris court, facing Henry Henman for their first round contest. Henman sought to make the play as funky as possible, embracing the chaos of the court and trying to generate good fortune from the ledges, edges and net cord. Riviere lapped it up, playing his fair share of bizarre returns, but then soon backed off and sought to absorb the play from Henman, especially around the tambour. Once he established a lead in the match, Riviere opened up again. His control was supreme, seemingly directing the ball from anywhere onto the base of the tambour. Through the second and third sets, Henman was matching Riviere in the rallies but could never find a way past, with the World Number 1 picking off winners whenever presented. Henman couldn’t keep it controlled enough to trouble Riviere, succumbing to a straight sets defeat.

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Play continues on Monday with the remaining first round singles matches. Play will be held over two separate sessions with an earlier start and later finish.

Match results:

• 9:30 AM: Erik Barker lost to Robert Shenkman (6) 2/6 1/6 0/6

• 12:00 PM: Lewis Williams (7) def Darren Long 5/6 6/4 6/3 6/4

• 2:30 PM: Benedict Yorston lost to Bryn Sayers (5) 2/6 2/6 3/6

• 5:00 PM: Camden Riviere (1) def Henry Henman 6/2 6/1 6/0

Order of play for Monday (all times CEST):

• 9:00 AM: Levi Gale vs John Lumley (2)

• 11:30 AM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) vs Zak Eadle

• 5:00 PM: Bertie Vallat vs Steve Virgona (3)

• 7:30 PM: Nino Merola (8) vs Vaughan Hamilton

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The World Race operates on a two-year cycle; it started at the Australian Open in January 2025 in Hobart, and will conclude at the British Open at Queen’s in November 2026. Points are awarded based on finishing positions in each of the fourteen tournaments that award ranking points. The incumbent World Champion—Riviere—will await a challenger to emerge from the World Championship Eliminators. The top four remaining players in the World Race will enter the World Championship Eliminators, with the first player up against the fourth, and the second against the third.

Three events remain for the 2025–26 World Race: the French Open in Paris (26 Sept–4 Oct), the IRTPA Players’ Championship in Aiken (17–25 Oct) and the British Open at Queen’s (15–24 Nov). With the British Open entry form now confirming the final point allocation per tournament, each player’s pathway to earning qualification to the World Championship Eliminators now begins to clear up.

The French Open offers a total of 24,613 points, the IRTPA Players’ Championship offers 35,000 points and the British Open has 60,237 points, enough to mix up the standings as the Race concludes. Note that the Players’ Championship and British Open have the option to increase their purse up to two days before the close of entries, which may affect the calculations in this article.

Camden Riviere — 71,577 points

Riviere has held the World Championship title continuously since 2022. He first won the World Championship Challenge in 2016 on his third attempt. His most recent defence was in 2025, defeating John Lumley by 7 sets to 1. As Champion, his World Race points total has no impact on his fate, as he will have the right to play in 2027 regardless. Even so, he still accumulates points at every event he plays. Given his outstanding record in Open play over the past decade, his role for the remaining events will be as a spoiler for anyone who draws him across the early rounds.

John Lumley — 72,033 points

Although Lumley leads Riviere on Race points, the 2025 World Championship Challenger still needs to battle through the Eliminators if he wants another shot. Lumley has reached at least the semi-final of every event he has played in across the 2025-26 World Race, with almost half of his points coming from his two Open wins in 2025 at the US Open (19,242 points) and the British Open (16,105 points). Going into the French Open, he holds a 19,987-point lead over the second-placed Nick Howell among Eliminator contenders. Given Rob Fahey will be absent from the French Open’s singles, it is mathematically impossible for either Fahey or Ben Taylor-Matthews to overtake Lumley.

The only marginal uncertainty for Lumley is whether he will finish in first or second place among the Eliminator contenders, which is not yet mathematically locked in. An overall win in Paris locks Lumley into first place. Just by showing up to the remaining three events, Lumley secures enough points such that the only way Howell can overtake him is to win the British Open and the IRTPA Players’ Championship, with Lumley losing in the first round of each.

Nick Howell — 52,046 points

Howell currently sits in second place among the Eliminator contenders, 9,108 points above third-placed Rob Fahey. His position arises from having chipped away at points all series long, notably getting 10,737 points from the 2025 British Open final and 6,686 points from winning the 2026 Champions Trophy. He has only missed one event, the 2025 Australian Open in Hobart, and has made at least the quarter-finals at every other event.

However, Howell is not travelling to Paris in September, depriving him of a chance to defend his position. As a result, his position in the Eliminators is not yet mathematically guaranteed, especially as the gap to Fahey and, post-French Open, Taylor-Matthews can be closed at the British Open. For Howell to miss out entirely is theoretically possible, though very unlikely, as it would require all of Taylor-Matthews, Fahey and Steve Virgona to score very highly in the remaining events while Howell misses out. To lock in at least the number 4 slot, he needs to find a minimum of about 6,444 points; for number 3, he needs about 12,662 points; and for number 2, he needs about 17,946.

However, that calculation assumes that his nearest challengers are able to reach the final or win every remaining tournament. If, instead, all remaining tournaments end in a Riviere vs Lumley final, Howell’s qualification route becomes much simpler. In that scenario, by merely showing up to the British Open, or alternatively, by winning at least one match at the Players’ Championship, his number 2 place will be confirmed.

Rob Fahey — 42,938 points

The thirteen-time World Champion has had his best cycle since he lost his title at Prested in 2022 and retired from singles play shortly thereafter. He still held enough points to challenge in 2023 as a result, but elected not to. Although Fahey returned to singles play again at the 2024 US Open, the lack of points in 2023 saw him miss the Eliminators in 2025. Now, he is back in the running for the Eliminators for just the third time in his career, having played in 1994 and 2018. He has only played seven events out of eleven — and will also miss the French Open — but a haul of 14,477 points for winning the Schochet Cup in 2025 has provided over a third of his total. For the events he has played, he has reached at least the semi-final at all of them except the 2026 Schochet Cup.

Fahey is currently 4,487 points ahead of Taylor-Matthews and 9,070 points ahead of Virgona; the differences in points will both decrease after the French Open. Should Fahey abstain from all remaining events, Taylor-Matthews will overtake him just by reaching the quarter-finals at every event, while Virgona would likely need to reach at least the semi-finals of the British Open to knock Fahey out of contention entirely.

Fahey’s ultimate place in the Eliminators depends on whether he decides to play the remaining events. In the scenario where each of the remaining tournaments ends in a Riviere vs Lumley final, attendance at both the Players’ Championship and the British Open plus a first-round win at the British Open is enough to ensure an Eliminator berth. Alternatively, if he just plays the British, a semi-final result would be enough to beat three semi-finals from Virgona in all three events. Crucially though, as Fahey sits outside the top 4 on World Rankings there is a 50-50 chance of drawing either Riviere or Lumley in the quarter-finals, opening a pathway for Virgona.

A bigger risk for Fahey is losing his number 3 seed in the Eliminators to Taylor-Matthews. If Fahey plays just the British Open and only reaches the quarter-finals, then Taylor-Matthews needs to make at least a semi-final at either Queen’s or Aiken. If Fahey does the same and reaches a semi-final, then Taylor-Matthews needs to reach the semi-final at both Queen’s and Aiken — not impossible given Taylor-Matthews’ World Ranking gives him a top-4 seed. Fahey’s position is more firm if he plays in Aiken as well, as two quarter-finals in the remaining events would leave Taylor-Matthews needing sufficiently stronger results across the remaining three, while a quarter-final at Aiken and a semi-final at Queen’s mathematically locks Taylor-Matthews out if Riviere and Lumley make every remaining final.

Ben Taylor-Matthews — 38,451 points

Taylor-Matthews currently holds the fourth Eliminator slot, seeking qualification to the World Championship Eliminators for the fourth time. His best result in the Race to date was picking up 9,651 points for reaching the final of the 2025 Schochet Cup. However, quarter-final losses to Bryn Sayers at both the 2025 British Open and 2026 US Open prevented him from cashing in at two of the highest-value tournaments of the cycle. As a result, Taylor-Matthews is 4,487 points behind Fahey, but only 4,583 points ahead of Virgona.

The key challenge for Taylor-Matthews is staying ahead of Virgona. Key to that quest will be not losing in the first round of the French Open to Zak Eadle, as a quarter-final will at least guarantee him the key world number 4 slot for the Players’ Championship, assuming Virgona doesn’t beat Riviere in their semi-final. If that does occur, it will be a head-to-head sprint for the finish. Best case scenario for Taylor-Matthews would be that Virgona draws either Riviere or Lumley in the quarter-finals at either the British Open or Players’ Championship. The tantalising prospect is the scenario where Taylor-Matthews and Virgona draw each other in the remaining tournaments, but the likelihood for that will depend on attendance from the other top seeds as well as each player’s ability to win through early-round matches.

Steve Virgona — 33,868 points

Virgona had a poor start to the 2025-26 World Race, suffering from the first-round exit of the Schochet Cup to Josh Dodgson in 2025, while missing the Australian Open and Champions Trophy. Winning the French Open in 2025 boosted his point total by 6,279 points, but the wrist injury he suffered in the final few games saw him miss the subsequent British Open as well. His 2026 season has gone better, taking 7,398 points home as a finalist of the Australian Open, as well as decent hauls at the Schochet Cup and Champions Trophy. He goes into the final three tournaments outside of the Eliminator places, needing to claw 4,583 points back from Taylor-Matthews.

With the World Ranking points he won at the 2025 French Open about to decay, Virgona is likely to go into the final two events as the World Number 5 unless he substantially outperforms Taylor-Matthews in Paris; a Virgona semi-final combined with a Taylor-Matthews first-round loss would be enough to keep Virgona ahead. If both players only reach quarter-finals or semi-finals in the remaining events, Virgona must not earn fewer points than Taylor-Matthews at any of them, and he would need to outperform Taylor-Matthews at both the Players’ Championship and the British Open.

Robert Shenkman (23,204 points) & Bryn Sayers (20,726 points)

Robert Shenkman and Bryn Sayers sit a distant sixth and seventh in the Eliminator standings, 10,664 points and 13,142 points behind Virgona, respectively. For Shenkman, apart from missing both Australian Opens, he has reached the quarter-finals of every event, but only gone on to one semi-final at the 2025 French Open. His 2026 trip to Paris doesn’t look much kinder, seeded to play Riviere in the quarter-finals. Still, he is not yet mathematically ruled out, since, for instance, an overall win at the British Open can still put him past Taylor-Matthews if the latter fails to progress.

For Sayers, his two wins over Taylor-Matthews in the 2025 British Open and 2026 US Open have given him the bulk of his points for the cycle. Again, he is not mathematically ruled out, but would need to win the British Open or Players’ Championship to get close. Hence, if Riviere and Lumley make every final for the remainder of the calendar, both are ruled out of contention.

For both, the 2027-28 World Race is a more realistic target. For Shenkman to do well then, he will need to break through into more semi-finals, especially at high-value tournaments like the US Open, British Open or Schochet Cup. An improved world ranking would help, especially at tournaments that have full attendance, but the size of the ranking point gap to those above him means he would need to start pushing into semi-finals soon.

Lewis Williams (17,407 points) & Nino Merola (9,208 points)

Both Lewis Williams and Nino Merola, at least before the French Open, still maintain at least a mathematical chance of reaching the Eliminators. For Williams, he must win at least one tournament and, unless he wins a second, reach the final in at least another, while relying on poor results from Taylor-Matthews, Shenkman, Sayers and Virgona. For Merola, he must win all three remaining tournaments, while having Taylor-Matthews lose in the first round of all three remaining tournaments as well as having a number of other results go the right way.

Realistically, both are fighting to get into the top 8 of the World Rankings ahead of the next World Race cycle — or top 9 should anyone in the top 8 retire — so as to start each tournament as a seed and hence bank as many quarter-final results as possible. Then, they would need to start pushing into semi-finals later in the next World Race to have a more realistic shot at playing in the Eliminators in 2029. Accounting for depreciation of rankings, Williams needs to find 4,165 points over the next three events to overtake Sayers, while Merola needs 10,694 — helped further if both play the Australian Open at the start of the next cycle.

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For any players currently outside the top 11, pathways to the 2029 World Championships become more limited without the protection that being seeded gives to one’s points tally. Rising players like Vaughan Hamilton, Bertie Vallat or Will Flynn would need to start scoring some genuine upsets to break through from the top 20 into the top 10, even across two years of play.

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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.