Carney and Van Der Zwalmen recover from a set down to reach Australian Open doubles final
Defending champions dominate doubles semi-finals
Katherine Carney has reached her first Australian Open doubles final with partner Lea Van Der Zwalmen, after finding themselves a set down against Tara Lumley and Xanthe Ranger in the semi-final match in Melbourne on Sunday. Meanwhile, defending doubles champions Camden Riviere and Chris Chapman, and Claire Fahey and Saskia Bollerman have both advanced to their respective finals in dominant fashion.
The first of the doubles semi-finals was between the second seeds Lea Van Der Zwalmen and Katherine Carney, and the third seeds Tara Lumley and Xanthe Ranger, the latter playing their first match of the tournament having received a walkover in the first round. Despite missing competitive play together, Lumley and Ranger were on fire, with Lumley covering the court excellently, making no errors and reading the play very well. Lumley and Ranger were able to pick off Carney at the galleries, testing her volley time and time again before she made a mistake. Van Der Zwalmen wasn’t able to impose herself as her style of pushing the ball into the corners was not very helpful if it gave Lumley the option to hit at Carney. Carney’s play wilted under the pressure, while her opposite number Ranger was more relaxed, hitting better shots and happy to leave the difficult balls to Lumley. Carney and Van Der Zwalmen saved three set points when 5/3 down, but after conceding a short chase couldn’t save a fourth.
The second set was a complete turn-around from the first, as Carney and Van Der Zwalmen adapted their configuration to make Carney less of a target, without removing her from the game completely and denting her confidence. Lumley couldn’t maintain her intensity from the first set, while Van Der Zwalmen was successful in getting Carney to lift in confidence — hitting her volley at the floor rather than the penthouse. They won the second set easily, prompting Lumley and Ranger to switch receivers for the third. It was a strategy that didn’t pay off, as it allowed Van Der Zwalmen to dictate the rally from the start, no matter the end of the court. Even though it made them more vulnerable in the Carney to Lumley games, Lumley was finding it harder to pick off Carney, allowing Van Der Zwalmen to assert herself in the match. They won the final two sets dropping just one game in each set, sending themselves through to Tuesday’s final.
The first of the open doubles semi-finals was between first seeds Nick Howell and Steve Virgona, and the Radley duo of Nino Merola and Henry Henman. The latter were both playing in their first Australian Open semi-final, and featured the unusual situation whereby Merola had played both opponents earlier in the week in the singles competition, meaning all cards were on the table as to tactics, strengths and weaknesses. Even so, Howell opted to receive Merola’s serve despite losing to him in the singles. Unlike earlier in the week, Merola was unable to be quite as effective on the cut-volley, whereas Virgona was all over the play in his games against Henman as the latter’s lack of railroad consigned him to having to serve drags to the left-hander. Henman got into a flow by the back end of the first set, taking on difficult balls while dancing across the front of the net. But by that time, the set had already gone.
Merola kept Howell’s serve for the second set, still trying to pin him down on the high serve. Though Henman kept the audience on the edge of their seats with his high-octane play across the front of the court, Virgona’s ability to kill the ball won out for the first two games, before fighting to a draw in the third as the players exchanged ten deuces over a quarter of an hour. Howell and Virgona came through the winners in that game, and the tight fourth which followed. From there, the scoreboard pressure became too immense, capitulating in the final couple of games before conceding the set to switch receivers for the third.
With Henman now serving high serves to Howell, he and Merola were finally able to break their scoreless streak as Henman caught Howell out with several falling flush. Henman also started playing back more, sprinting around the court and swapping up and back with Merola mid-rally. Yet no matter how thrilling or exciting they made the rallies look, Virgona and Howell were able to absorb everything until the error came. By the end, Virgona and Howell were playing completely freely, closing out the match and booking their spot in the final.
The second women’s doubles semi-final featured four players who had each previously won both singles and doubles titles at the Australian Open. Defending champions Claire Fahey and Saskia Bollerman lined up together for the first time in the event, having received a bye in the first round, against the fourth seeds Penny Lumley and Jo See Tan. Bollerman was solid in the galleries, hardly letting a ball past her meaning Fahey didn’t have all that much to do. When Fahey did decide to impose herself, there was little that Lumley and Tan could do given the quality of the shot they had to deal with. It was all about surviving as long as possible, as they weren’t able to find any counterplay to Fahey’s forehand, winning just 12 points, yet still able to convert them into one game. The defending champions took less than half an hour to secure progression.
The last of the semi-finals saw defending champions and second seeds Camden Riviere and Chris Chapman challenged by long-time doubles partners and fourth seeds Levi Gale and Lewis Williams. Gale and Williams came out hot, with Gale receiving Chapman’s railroad then sprinting over in front of the tambour to begin volleying. Meanwhile, Riviere was annoyed yet smiling about the fact he wasn’t able to execute his shot to his lofty standards. Gale and Williams maintained an ultra aggressive style, neutralising Chapman at the back of the court as they built a three game lead in the first set. Riviere wasn’t fussed, staying up in the galleries having fun while they worked their way back into the set. He wound through the gears, winning five straight games to finish the set.
Riviere was at the peak of his powers going into the second set, keeping the energy high and entertaining the crowd with his extreme prowess and strokemaking. Chapman joined in the fun too at times, but was mostly playing a stabilising role to Riviere’s chaos. One amusing point saw Riviere launch a high back wall that flew back over to his side of the net for him to attempt to volley again — called correctly as a double hit. Riviere was more than happy to entertain the crowd of Boomerang Cup players, filling out all of the galleries of the court. Gale and Williams were only too happy to join in the fun, playing an exhilirating match of doubles, but Riviere was the main attraction. He and Chapman won the final two sets comfortably, closing out the list of finalists.
Play continues with the two singles finals on Monday evening, with the doubles finals to take place on Tuesday evening.
Match results:
12:00 PM: Tara Lumley & Xanthe Ranger (3) lost to Lea Van Der Zwalmen & Katherine Carney (2) 6/3 1/6
2:00 PM: Nick Howell & Steve Virgona (1) def Nino Merola & Henry Henman (4) 6/3 6/0 6/1
4:00 PM: Claire Fahey & Saskia Bollerman (1) def Jo See Tan & Penny Lumley (4) 6/1 6/0
4:30 PM: Lewis Williams & Levi Gale (3) lost to Camden Riviere & Chris Chapman (2) 4/6 2/6
Order of play for Monday (all time AEDT):
5:00 PM: Claire Fahey (1) vs Lea Van Der Zwalmen (2)
7:00 PM: Camden Riviere (1) vs Steve Virgona (3)