Batstone saves match point to beat Henman in Category A Open first round
Player secures quarter-final berth in upset win over Gordon
Ned Batstone saved match point in an upset defeat over Henry Henman in the first round of the Category A Open at the Prested Real Tennis Club on Friday, with each of the four matches in the day seeing at least one set featuring a 5-all game. Adam Player continued his strong season’s form, registering an upset win over Louis Gordon, while Benedict Yorston and Zak Eadle each won a comfortable first but tight second set in their matches against Jack Josephs and Thomas Durack respectively.
The tournament began with the match between Petworth’s Louis Gordon and Wellington’s Adam Player. The first couple of games were drawn out, with each player struggling to read the difficult main wall. Gordon tried to force the issue, winding up his shots at the postage-box Prested dedans. But Player was able to hold firm and parry away anything on target, whilst holding on long enough in the rally to be the beneficiary of Gordon’s unforced error. Even though Gordon did find his hitting zones more and more frequently, Player kept the set alive, finding plenty of joy with shots tight to the backhand wall or slammed at the main wall. The set ran to a deciding game, with Player bringing up the first set point with another main wall dedans. He then won the set on the change of ends, defending a worse than 3 chase as Gordon’s shot trickled over the top of the net cord.
Gordon battled through the second set, with his past shoulder and ankle injuries threating to flare up again. Player never had to do anything fancy to stay toe-to-toe with Gordon, barring one particularly impressive rally where Player, up in the hazards, defended multiple shots with last-minute digs around his ankles. Again, the set was even throughout, with Player pulling ahead late. Gordon barely kept the set alive through the first two set points, though fell at the third, with Player securing a place in the quarter-finals to play first seed Vaughan Hamilton.
The second match was between one of three amateurs in the draw, Benedict Yorston, and the professional from the Royal Tennis Court, Jack Josephs. Yorston was able to keep a stranglehold on the service end through the first set, serving short and dead to cut off Josephs’s angle on the galleries. He was then able to pepper the tambour, slowly wearing Josephs down until Yorston finally found an angle to beat him. Even when Yorston did find himself at the hazard end, a gallery was never too far away, winning the first set comfortably, dropping just two games.
Josephs looked to be on the front foot more at the start of the second set, refusing to let Yorston get involved in the long rallies he prefers. His retrieving also improved markedly, taking the first three games of the set while Yorston’s shot accuracy dropped off. Yorston was unphased, backing his retrieving skills to fight back into the set. His reactions off the tambour were particularly impressive, using it to pull back five of the next six games. Josephs had to battle to force a deciding game, with Yorston pulling back two of three game points. He then went up two match points, but lost a short chase on one and hit the second into the net. Two chases later — despite Yorston’s protestations — Yorston found himself at the receiving end again. He beat the first second gallery chase by sliding a ball into the last gallery, then won the match on a better than 2 chase, putting both shots deep into Josephs’s forehand corner. Yorston progresses to play the local alumni, Claire Fahey, in the quarter-finals.
In the bottom half of the draw, the Oratory’s Henry Henman took on the second of the amateurs, Ned Batstone. Henman’s opening salvo was to launch a series of hyper-aggressive volley returns, catching Batstone off guard in the first few games. However, he could not persist with it, with Batstone wrestling the initiative before long. Batstone’s own wild forcing became the story of the second half of the set. At first, it had Henman diving for cover, pulling Batstone into the lead in the set. But it too faltered, giving Henman the opening once again. He won the set from deuce in the tenth game, after Batstone had points to force a deciding game.
The match continued to see-saw into the second set, with Henman’s attack once again overextending. Batstone was a model of calm and consistency, defending well and counterattacking where possible. His serving variety never let Henman settle, and his confidence was growing, taking on more and more shots as the set snowballed in his favour. He levelled the match, dropping a single game in the set.
Henman missed his chance to wrestle back control at the start of the third set, as the first game saw a long deuce exchange, while the second Batstone won easily. Henman finally sacrificed a bit of pace off his shots in favour of control. By stopping the bleeding of the easy points, Henman was once again ascendant. He won the next four games before conceding one with a series of unforced errors. He quickly recalibrated, pressing on to be up match point in the 5/4 game, but couldn’t beat a better than 2 chase. Instead, Batstone’s superior gallery hitting forced the match into a one-game shootout. Henman opened with three poor serves, quickly conceding a point and two short chases. Unable to attack either, Batstone had three match points. He won the first, hitting the grille ledge with Henman unable to send a diving return over the net. Batstone moves on to play Will Flynn in the next round.
The last match of the day was between Bristol’s Zak Eadle and Petworth’s Thomas Durack. Eadle was dominant from the start, hitting the ball with a pace that Durack couldn’t match, and getting it to jag and cut all over the place. He won the first set easily, dropping just the penultimate game, and quickly found himself ahead in the second. He took his foot off the accelerator, letting Durack battle back into contention. With the set evenly poised at 4-all, Eadle had to return to his basics to go up by two set points. A brace of grilles from Durack sent the set into a deciding game instead. Eadle spent the final game peppering the ball at the dedans, drawing the volley errors from Durack, which was enough to earn him the win.
Play continues on Saturday with the four quarter-finals matches, which each see one of the top four seeds enter the draw for the first time. Matches will conclude on Sunday with both the semi-finals and final.
Match results:
12:00 PM: Louis Gordon lost to Adam Player 5/6 4/6
1:30 PM: Benedict Yorston def Jack Josephs 6/2 6/5
3:00 PM: Henry Henman lost to Ned Batstone 6/4 1/6 5/6
4:30 PM: Zak Eadle def Thomas Durack 6/1 6/5
Order of play for Saturday (all times BST):
10:30 AM: Vaughan Hamilton (1) vs Adam Player
12:00 PM: Benedict Yorston vs Claire Fahey (3)
1:30 PM: Will Flynn (4) vs Ned Batstone
3:00 PM: Zak Eadle vs Darren Long (2)