Batstone earns maiden British Open main draw with win over Giddins; Henman qualifies with second set fightback against Yorston
Gordon retires against Medlow; Flynn too strong for Greenhalgh
The four qualifiers for the British Open were determined at the Queen’s Club on Thursday, with each of the four winners having to earn their spot following a day of tough matches that tested their skills and shots.
The first match was between Benedict Yorston and Henry Henman, who played most recently in the Radley Club Championship final back in June. The early exchanges were characterised by a series of long rallies, decided by subtle positioning errors or minor misreads of the ball’s bounce or spin. Both players were patiently waiting for the errors rather than attempting to place their opponent under undue pressure. Henman was the first to establish anything resembling a lead, breaking away to 5/3. Though Yorston was able to pull back one game of the deficit, Henman quickly shut out the final game to take the first set.
Yorston responded by taking the first two games of the second set, taking advantage of Henman dropping off in intensity. In particular, Yorston was generating plenty of success by targeting in and around the grille, while Henman was racking up his unforced error count. Through the set, Henman found himself unable to get into any good floor battles with Yorston, instead either spooning the ball up to the penthouse or giving Yorston a relatively easy shot through the middle of the court. Yorston had four set points across the 5/1 game. In defending all four, Henman started to rediscover his groove. The young professional gritted through the next four games, not finding anything particularly special except for a refusal to let Yorston see another set point. With the set going to a decider, Henman immediately recovered the serve with a brace of gallery chases. Yorston thought he’d marginally beaten the first of these chases, letting out a yell of celebration, but it was called chase-off by the marker. A quartet of poor return-of-serves from Yorston followed, two into the net and two onto the penthouse, allowing Henman to take the match with a ball placed neatly under the winning gallery. Henman now moves on to face Nino Merola in the main draw.
The second match of the day was fought between Seacourt’s Will Flynn and Oxford’s Craig Greenhalgh. Flynn took control of the match from the outset, exhibiting his stroke control well. In particular, he was able to hold back subtle changes of pace or direction until the last possible moment, which sent Greenhalgh the wrong way or caught Greenhalgh out flat-footed. Flynn was also relentless in targeting the grille, testing out Greenhalgh’s backhand volley for shot after shot. Greenhalgh did play himself into a little vein of form through the middle of the first set, threatening to make things interesting through a period where Flynn reduced intensity, but Flynn was able to carry on to close out the set.
Into the second set, Flynn was far less interested in rallying, sending some missiles rocketing past Greenhalgh’s ears and into the dedans, or boasting thick and trying to bring Greenhalgh forward. This approach brought a few errors as well, with Greenhalgh doing hist best to stay within touching distance. Greenhalgh managed to stave off five match points over the course of the set, inching back towards parity. However, Flynn eventually found a finish to book a main draw slot against Darren Long.
The evening matches began with local pro James Medlow taking on Louis Gordon. From the start it was a grueling back-and-forth battle, with high-pace tennis being generated from both ends of the court. The first six games took the better part of 40 minutes to complete, which the players fought to a 3-all draw. The rallies were quick and short, with neither player getting any long runs of points. Medlow snuck ahead after the seventh game, a narrow lead which snowballed over the space of a few minutes resulting in him winning the set.
Gordon took a five minute injury timeout in the second game of the second set. When he returned his confidence was defeated, tossing his racquet and smacking it against his foot. Medlow was the epitome of calm throughout, as he bent over to tie his shoelaces for the umpteenth time. Gordon conceded the next three games before stealing back a couple with some accurate target hitting. But Medlow remained calm, weathering the storm and pushing on two further games before Gordon retired the match. Medlow moves on to play Levi Gale in the main draw.
The final match of the qualifying singles was between the two amateurs: Ned Batstone and Jamie Giddins. Through the first set, Giddins looked out of form and struggled to find the ball onto the center of his strings. Meanwhile, Batstone was ruthless in punishing anything loose. Giddins’s backhand was looking quite vulnerable, and he struggling to maintain his balance at times. Batstone conceded just 11 points across the first set, winning it without dropping a game in just 20 minutes.
Giddins started to turn things around from 0/2 down in the second set. He started playing his shots with more intent as he started to apply some pressure back on Batstone. Giddins won the next three games. The match was well and truly on. The next few games saw some great long rallies and excellent tambour play from both players as they exchanged games all the way to 5-all. In the final game, Batstone pulled ahead thanks to his quick reflexes reading some difficult ledge bounces including a desperation ‘tweener. But Giddins found two chases to reach set point first, completing the job with a ball into the main-wall tambour.
The third and final set continued the theme of the tight back-and-forth contest. Batstone managed to get some good forces away to beat short chases on multiple occasions, while the backhand-to-backhand rallies became enthralling viewing. There wasn’t much to separate the players, with the service end proving particularly valuable. Batstone had broken away to a 4/1 lead before there was a short break in play as the phrase “Would a member of staff please report to reception” played on repeat throughout the Queen’s Club loudspeakers, the marker, Bryn Sayers, went to go turn it off. It didn’t disrupt the rhythm of the players too much, with Batstone going on to earn a match point a few minutes later in the 5/2 game. Giddins saw it off with the aid of the tambour, along with another two the following game. Batstone brought up his fourth match point in the 5/4 game, though failed to beat a worse than 2 chase, and then sent his fifth match point into the rafters. A sixth and a seventh went by as well, before finally winning the eighth with a good angle into Giddins’s forehand corner. Batstone moves on to play Tony Hollins in the main draw, in what will be his debut main draw appearance.
The four winners from the day will each play in the first round of the main draw of the British Open at the Queen’s Club on Sunday. Before then, the open doubles qualification will take place at Queen’s on Friday, while the women’s qualifying will also begin on Friday at Holyport.
Match results:
2:00 PM: Benedict Yorston lost to Henry Henman 4/6 5/6
3:30 PM: Will Flynn def Craig Greenhalgh 6/2 6/4
5:00 PM: Louis Gordon lost to James Medlow 3/6 3/5 ret.
6:30 PM: Jamie Giddins lost to Ned Batstone 0/6 6/5 4/6
Order of play for Friday (all times GMT):
Queen’s East:
3:30 PM: Craig Greenhalgh & Benedict Yorston vs Ned Batstone & James Medlow
5:00 PM: Nick James & Neil Mackenzie (2) vs Adam Player & James Sohl
6:30 PM: Tony Hollins & Josh Smith (1) vs Winner Greenhalgh & Yorston vs Batstone & James
Holyport:
4:30 PM: Karla Popovic vs Sabrina Didizian