Britain sweeps Rest of the World on first day of women's Bathurst Cup
GB Men gain lead over Australia Men after semi-final doubles rubber; USA Men secure final berth with unassailable lead over France Men
Great Britain have had a flawless start to their women’s Bathurst Cup campaign, winning all four singles rubbers against the Rest of the World in Paris on Tuesday. Meanwhile, in the men’s competition, the USA locked in their spot in the finals with a straight-sets victory over France in their doubles rubber with two matches to play, while Great Britain are narrowly ahead of Australia after their doubles tie went to five sets.
The women’s Bathurst kicked off with a team representing Great Britain playing a Rest of the World team. The first match was the second singles contest between Britain’s Georgie Willis and Australia’s Emma Clyde — playing for the Rest of the World. The start was slightly delayed as the teams debated who was permitted to provide coaching advice to the players. The court brought an extra complication to proceedings — the high windows brought in bright sunlight and glare across the middle of the court. Clyde took the initiative early, backing her tight serving to force Willis into giving away a loose ball, enabling Clyde to pick off a good volley. However, for every ball that Clyde hit out of the centre of the strings for a clean winner, there was another that ended up in the net or on the penthouse that enabled Willis to find a winner instead. The Brit played herself into the match, patiently waiting for the mistake to come and backing her execution of the shot. As Willis established the lead in the set, Clyde’s shotmaking become more erratic, compounding the problems for the Australian. Willis secured the set for Britain, but needed five attempts at set point to do so.
The pattern largely continued through the second set. Even though Willis couldn’t pin down Clyde with her serving, Willis backed herself to retrieve Clyde’s first aggressive stroke. Clyde was often too impatient, trying to force an outcome on the next stroke or two, giving away an unforced error or an easy ball to Willis. Willis dug in, slowly establishing her lead in the set. As the match slipped away Clyde tried a few “Hail Mary” shots, which, when coupled with good execution and a bit of fortune, helped bring her back into contention for the match. The match came down to a tense 5/4 deuce game. Nerves skyrocketed, including Clyde chasing a ball towards the net on a hazard chase she could have left but for her uncertainty about French chase names. Willis won the match with a lob that settled on the grille ledge for a moment before falling into the backboard.
Next on was the battle of the first seeds: Britain’s Tara Lumley and the Rest of the World’s Saskia Bollerman. It was a closely matched affair, with Lumley holding the better head-to-head record but it was Bollerman, who was the victor in their most recent encounter at the US Open in March. Lumley had the better start, extending a two-game lead. However, Bollerman’s defensive play came to the fore and nullified Lumley’s play, as Bollerman and outlasted Lumley in the backhand exchanges. Bollerman took the last five games of the first set, as Lumley was left searching for a way through.
Lumley tightened up her serve for the second set, putting Bollerman immediately on the back foot. Her drags were effective in restricting Bollerman’s ability to control the play. Bollerman tried to counteract with a railroad, but she wasn’t able to get it tight enough which let Lumley have the advantage from both ends. Lumley won a key deuce game at 3/1, characterised by several tight chase calls. Her lead stretched out to 5/1 before Bollerman mounted a brief comeback. She had two points to bring the scoreline back to 5/4, but again, Lumley’s serving dismissed any thought that Bollerman had of making the set tight. Lumley sent the match into a deciding set instead.
Bollerman improved for the third set, with her strokeplay becoming more incisive, especially from the service end. Play was paused briefly at 2-all to clean up a scattering of debris that had fallen from the ceiling. After the next change of ends, Lumley had her best run of serves of the match, not giving a point away for a couple of games before Bollerman could next find a chase. The stint proved decisive, with Lumley taking the match and a 2-0 lead for Team GB.
The men’s Bathrust resumed with the doubles rubber in the semi-final between the USA and France. The USA, with their team of just two players, were forced to pick Noah Motz and Freddie Bristowe, while the French team substituted both of their singles players out for Nicolas Victoir and Michel Brunoro. At the start of the match, the Americans lacked coordination, often going for the same ball as each other or not moving well to cover their partner’s weaknesses. The French, meanwhile, were solid in their attacking play, constantly forcing for the dedans or sending Brunoro forward to dance around the door line. The French duo pulled out a 3-0 lead before the Americans started to find a groove. Once they got going, there was little the French could do in response. They held full control of the play, blasting the ball around while Victoir and Brunoro desparately tried to hold on. A few bursts of counterpunching saw them nab a couple of games, but American victory was largely assured at the end of the second set, leaving the players to go through the motions for the next hour. The win secures an unassailable 3-0 lead for the Americans, sealing their qualification into the Bathurst Cup final with the two reverse singles rubbers to play on Wednesday.
Back to the women’s event, and it was the turn of the third seeds for each respective team. For Britain, it was Katherine Carney, while the Rest of the World was represented by Australia’s Jo See Tan. The match was characterised by the service battle — Carney was able to use the steep Parisian penthouse to generate uncertainty over the width of her serve, leaving the left-handed Tan to hold back and stretch to reach the return of serve. Meanwhile, Tan’s go-to railroad wasn’t causing many problems for Carney, popping up off the back wall and letting Carney lean into a force. It took Tan serving wider and shorter for her to eat into Carney’s early lead, eventually evening the set at 4-all. Carney pushed ahead with a solid stint at the service end, and by the time Tan had recovered the serve, Carney was too close to the finish line. A couple of untimely unforced errors from Tan gave Carney the break she needed to seal the set. In the second set, Carney throttled any scoring opportunities that Tan had, with patient, persistent play proving the Australian’s undoing. By the end, Tan had run out of ideas, with a confident Carney winning the second set without dropping a game. Her win took Britain to an unenviable 3-0 lead in the fixture.
The last of the regular singles matches for the women’s trophy was between Britain’s Jess Garside and the Rest of the World’s Frederika Adam. Garside was in control of the match from the start, with her serving restricting Adam’s round-arm volley, backed up by consistent play on and around the tambour, often catching Adam out of position. However, the heat was taking its toll on Garside, removing the sting of her best shots and letting Adam play into the match. Adam found it easy to lay plenty of chases as a result, with Garside not covering the court as she may have done in cooler weather. Garside battled through the first set, but found a second wind for the second, winning the first two games before conceding the service end. The fight then fell out of Adam’s play, with Garside pushing on to victory, bageling the second set.
The final match of the day was the doubles rubber of the Australia vs Great Britain men’s semi-final. With the fixture tied at 1-all, Great Britain subbed out Bertie Vallat from the singles for doubles specialist Will Flynn — partnering Robert Shenkman. Meanwhile, Australia kept the same players as the singles rubbers — Oliver Pridmore and Michael Williams — especially given the pair recently secured the Victorian Open doubles together. Williams elected to receive Shenkman’s serve for the first set. Shenkman was the only player on court with any sense of self-control or moderation, the other three launched themselves at the ball at every opportunity. At first Flynn was overexcited and Shenkman got suckered into the ping-pong play, letting the Australians out to an early lead. But they soon found their composure, bringing the first set scoreline back to 4-all. However, a spell of effective and piercing power hitting from the Australians was enough for them to win the last two games and the first set.
The second set was tight throughout, with neither pair gaining much of an advantage. Shenkman kept serving to Williams, pushing Flynn up to attack at the net. There were plenty of long chases being set, as each pair would drive at the bakc wall — above or below the penthouse — as their only real way of ending a reste. It was Flynn who eventually broke the deadlock, with a booming series of return of serve volleys that beat through Pridmore’s defense to break to a two-game lead at 5/3. Then, from the service end, it was Flynn’s fast feet and quick hands that carried the Brits over the line to even the match at 1-all.
Shenkman lined up against Pridmore’s serve for the third set. Flynn and Shenkman were successful in dragging Pridmore into an ego contest playing shots up and down the main wall. Pridmore over-extended, often trying to do too much to beat both his opponents at once as Britain pulled out a two-game lead. Still, Pridmore was determined to generate counterplay, even if it meant icing out Shenkman and Williams and focusing his attack on Flynn. Pridmore carried the scoreline back to 4-all again. But yet again, it was Flynn who stepped forward, belting in some accurate return of serve forces at the key moments to put Britain ahead, winning the third set.
Pridmore stayed on Shenkman’s serve for the fourth set. Early in the set, Flynn took a ball in the face while trying to defend the winning gallery. Despite his insistence on playing on, the shock ruined his hot streak as the Australians piled on a lead. The Brits didn’t win another game in the set, while the Australians pulled back a little, making sure they executed their finishes well. The Brits put Flynn on Pridmore’s serve for the final set. Shenkman then took a leadership role, corralling Flynn back into form, constantly giving Flynn reinforcing feedback, while playing the anchor role himself to perfection. The Australians fell away, barely winning a point in the back half of the set. The rally of the match was preserved for the first match point, with Pridmore barely holding on, Flynn at full stretch to find the finish and Shenkman ending up on the floor. Even though the Australians saved the game from 0-40 down, the Brit’s 5/0 lead was enough to see them over the line. Their victory put them one rubber away from the final, with the Australians needing to win both of the singles fixtures on Wednesday in order to progress.
Play continues on Wednesday with the remaining matches in the men’s semi-finals, as well as the reverse doubles of the womens’ Bathurst Cup. The USA and France will play out two dead-rubbers in their reverse singles, while Great Britain will have two shots at beating Australia in their regular singles. The Great Britain women’s team can secure a minimum of a deciding doubles match should they win their two reverse doubles fixtures.
Match results:
GB Women lead ROW Women 4-0 (eight rubbers remaining)
11:00 AM: Georgie Willis (GBR) def Emma Clyde (ROW) 6/3 6/4
12:30 PM: Tara Lumley (GBR) def Saskia Bollerman (ROW) 3/6 6/3 6/3
4:00 PM: Katherine Carney (GBR) def Jo See Tan (ROW) 6/4 6/0
5:30 PM: Jess Garside (GBR) def Frederika Adam (ROW) 6/3 6/0
USA Men def FRA Men 3-0 (two rubbers remaining)
2:00 PM: Freddie Bristowe & Noah Motz (USA) def Nicolas Victoir & Michel Brunoro (FRA) 6/4 6/2 6/1
GB Men lead AUS Men 2-1 (two rubbers remaining)
7:00 PM: Robert Shenkman & Will Flynn (GBR) def Oliver Pridmore & Michael Williams (AUS) 4/6 6/3 6/4 0/6 6/1
Order of play for Wednesday (all times CEST):
11:00 AM (2 vs 1 reverse singles): Noah Motz (USA) vs Jean-Baptiste Rossi (FRA)
1:00 PM (1 vs 2 reverse singles): Freddie Bristowe (USA) vs Clément Depreeuw (FRA)
3:00 PM (2 vs 1 reverse doubles): Georgie Willis & Jess Garside (GBR) vs Lea Van Der Zwalmen & Frederika Adam (ROW)
4:30 PM (1 vs 2 reverse doubles): Tara Lumley & Nicola Doble (GBR) vs Saskia Bollerman & Xanthe Ranger (ROW)
6:00 PM (1st singles): Robert Shenkman (GBR) vs Oliver Pridmore (AUS)
8:00 PM (2nd singles): Bertie Vallat (GBR) vs Michael Williams (AUS)