All-American three-set showcase in first round of US Ladies Open
Fahey begins quest for 50th Open title as four European top seeds reach semis.
The US Ladies Open began at the Tennis and Racquet Club in Boston on Friday, with Americans Frederika Adam and Ashley Fitz-Patrick winning through back-and-forth first round matches, before the four European top seeds blitzed through to the semi-finals.
Play began on Friday afternoon with the match between Newport’s Kathy Minevitz and Philadelphia’s Victoria Scott. The left-handed Scott made quick work of the match, generating difficult angles with her demi-pique serves. Though Minevitz’s play was spirited, Scott’s victory was never in doubt. Amy Wintersteen then benefitted from a walkover from sixth seed Xanthe Ranger, giving a sizable gap in the schedule before local Bostonian Aidana Saudabayeva took to the court against fourth seed and Girls’ Under-19 World Champion Katherine Carney. Though it took Carney a few games to shake off the cobwebs, she soon established complete control of the play. Her service-end play was particularly dominant, placing the ball at will around the tambour as she secured her straight-sets victory.
In the first-round matches in the bottom half of the draw, 4-time finalist Frederika Adam made her return to the event against Claire Voegele. The first set was tight, with Voegele hitting shots to a good length to beat Adam in the corner time after time. Adam’s shot quality kept her in the set, having three points to go 5/4 up, but Voegele’s play into Adam’s backhand saved all of them. Voegele couldn’t capitalize on her own 5/4 advantage, with the set concluding in a deciding game. Adam struck a grille, followed by a winning gallery, to take a the decisive lead to secure the set.
Adam had an early 2/1 lead in the second set but it was quickly undone by Voegele’s tight bobble serves. At the other end, Adam’s railroads were too easy for Voegele to get on top of, and was able to control it deep into the corners. Voegele won the last five games of the set to send the match into a third. Adam then seemed to turn things around, with her drag serve causing Voegele difficulties, scooping an easy response for Adam to put away the reste on the third stroke. She built a 4/0 lead before Voegele found a strong run of counterplay, controlling the ball better and outlasting Adam in the rally until the latter made an error. Voegele was a point away from forcing the match into a deciding game before Adam found a final run of good serves to secure victory instead.
The last of the first round matches was between Aiken’s Kadi Meldrum and Washington’s Ashley Fitz-Patrick. Through the opening phase of the match it seemed that the result could go either way, with Fitz-Patrick asking questions of Meldrum with the tight line of her shots jamming up against the side wall. But Meldrum’s double-handed backhand and powerful forehand strokes quickly proved the difference, running away with the set 6/2. Fitz-Patrick didn’t give in, able to turn Meldrum’s big hitting into a weakness by taking advantage of anything that was overhit. She found some strength to her own shots as well, securing the second set while overturning a two-game deficit. Fitz-Patrick held the upper hand going into the third set, while Meldrum struggled to maintain the grip of the racket in her hand, sending it flying into the net on several occasions. She quickly found herself with a three-game advantage, before some accurate dedans hitting from Meldrum started to rein in the deficit. It wouldn’t last, with Fitz-Patrick finding the last few games needed to secure her spot in the quarter-finals.
The quarter-finals followed immediately, with first seed Claire Fahey kicking off her campaign for her 50th Open title against Scott. Fahey was her typical, ruthless self, never giving Scott an easy ball. She cruised to an easy victory without dropping a game — the closest Scott came was in the final game of the first set. Following on was the next quarter-final between Wintersteen and Carney. Carney took a different approach to Fahey but ended up with a similar result: instead of seeking to put the ball away at every stroke, Carney was happy to play the rally out as long as needed before either finding an opening or forcing an error. Wintersteen tried her hardest to keep in the rally, often using the galleries as her main release valve, but otherwise couldn’t make progress. Carney locked in her semi-final against Fahey in barely half an hour of play.
In the bottom half of the draw, the third quarter-final saw third seed Saskia Bollerman play against Adam. Adam could not find a return of serve that troubled Bollerman, with the Dutchwoman plucking volleys out of the air with ease and directing them to difficult places in the hazard court. On set point in the first set, a ball ricocheted off Adam’s frame into her face. Saved by her safety glasses, she took a short break to recover before the second set. Once play resumed, Bollerman wasn’t as clinical in her shot quality as she had been, while Adam found some decent shots deep into the corners to develop a three game lead. Bollerman then started to find success with her demi-pique, slowly erasing the deficit before pushing on for victory.
The last match of the day saw second seed Tara Lumley play Fitz-Patrick. Lumley pinned Fitz-Patrick to the hazard end with her railroad serves, winning plenty of points by taking the third stroke as a forehand down the main wall at the tambour. Fitz-Patrick’s only game came at the start of the second set when Lumley went through a passage of being unable to land a first serve. But Lumley quickly recovered, pushing on to the win.
Play continues on Saturday with the two singles semi-finals, followed by both the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the doubles draw.
Match results:
10:00 AM: Kathy Minevitz lost to Victoria Scott (7) 0/6 0/6
11:00 AM: Xanthe Ranger (6) lost to Amy Wintersteen w/o
12:00 PM: Aidana Saudabayeva lost to Katherine Carney (4) 1/6 0/6
1:00 PM: Claire Voegele lost to Frederika Adam (5) 5/6 6/2 4/6
2:00 PM: Kadi Meldrum (8) lost to Ashley Fitz-Patrick 6/2 4/6 4/6
3:00 PM: Claire Fahey (1) def Victoria Scott 6/0 6/0
4:00 PM: Amy Wintersteen lost to Katherine Carney (4) 1/6 0/6
5:15 PM: Saskia Bollerman (3) def Frederika Adam (5) 6/0 6/4
6:30 PM: Tara Lumley (2) def Ashley Fitz-Patrick 6/0 6/1
Order of play for Saturday (all times EST):
9:00 AM: Claire Fahey (1) vs Katherine Carney (4)
10:15 AM: Saskia Bollerman (3) vs Tara Lumley (2)
11:30 AM: Claire Fahey & Tara Lumley (1) vs Kathy Minevitz & Julia Knowlton
12:45 PM: Amy Wintersteen & Aidana Saudabayeva vs Claire Voegele & Kadi Meldrum (4)
2:00 PM: Katherine Carney & Frederika Adam (3) vs Ashley Fitz-Patrick & Victoria Scott
3:15 PM: Grace Ormond & Lauren Rowles vs Xanthe Ranger & Saskia Bollerman (2)
5:00 PM: Winner Fahey/Lumley vs Minevitz/Knowlton vs Winner Wintersteen/Saudabayeva vs Voegele/Meldrum
6:15 PM: Winner Carney/Adam vs Fitz-Patrick/Scott vs Winner Ormond/Rowles vs Ranger/Bollerman