Claire Fahey equals Pierre Etchebaster with 8th World Championship title
Van Der Zwalmen battles hard but falls short for third time
Claire Fahey won the Ladies World Championship against Lea Van Der Zwalmen in Newport on Friday, once again underscoring her status as the most dominant player in the sport today.
For the very first time in history, two women walked onto a real tennis court for a competitive best-of-5 set match. Claire Fahey, the defending champion, was seeking her eighth consecutive World Title, a feat that would put her equal with the Frenchman Pierre Etchebaster as the second most successful player — man or woman — with only her husband Robert Fahey ahead of her. Lea Van Der Zwalmen, playing in her third consecutive final, was seeking to become the first player in over 120 years — man or woman — to hold the rackets and real tennis World Championship singles titles concurrently.
The play in the first set was extremely tactical. There were no bombastic shots or wild swings — instead both players were hitting for line and length, trying to work the ball as deep and as wide into the corners as possible. The first couple of games were tight, as both were interrogating each other’s backhand stroke. After Fahey snatched the first two games, her play became more expansive, becoming more willing to play deep into Van Der Zwalmen’s forehand on the return of serve. Once Fahey realised the shot was bearing fruit, she leaned into it, with her whole play becoming more aggressive. Her lead soon became a commanding one, winning the first set without dropping a game.
Van Der Zwalmen broke Fahey’s run in the first game of the second set, on the back of an excellent cut shot to equal a worse than 1 chase. The Frenchwoman increased the pace and spin of her shots, hitting the ball deeper into the court but extracting more cut off the back wall. Unlike her usual highly varied serving strategy, Van Der Zwalmen was predominantly serving her backhand drag in an effort to restrict Fahey’s options on the return, particularly limiting the cut-volley. Fahey had to regroup, returning to her fundamentals as she wrestled back the advantage in the set. The rallies were long and tactical, with both players often jammed up against the wall requiring all of their skill to get out of danger. As in the first set, once Fahey was on top of the scoreboard, her play grew more confident and attacking winning another six games in a row to get to a two set lead.
Starting the third set, Van Der Zwalmen was more experimental in her serving strategy, searching for another inroad into Fahey’s defences. She was also more hard-hitting in her strokeplay, striking some forces for the dedans and grille for the first time in the match. But with her higher risk play brought more inaccuracies, meaning Fahey could wait for the opportunities to present themselves and then strike with a devastating winner. Van Der Zwalmen battled hard, stretching Fahey for every shot but the result was becoming more and more inevitable. Fahey sensed she was close, throwing a fist pump after hitting each winner or at the end of each game. She reached her first championship point with a better than a yard chase in the locker. Van Der Zwalmen’s shot into the backhand narrowly clipped the one yard lines. Fahey dropped her racket on the ground and threw both arms in the air in celebration.
“It feels very surreal standing here when you think about this moment for so long in the two year cycle and preparation,” said Fahey, “you try really hard not to think about this moment, but it means everything to me. I think you could probably see it out here on court today.” She also directed some comments to Van Der Zwalmen: “[You are] a very worthy finalist. I think sometimes the scorelines in matches don’t quite reflect how the match has gone. You played some great stuff out here and are very worthy competitor.”
The Ladies World Championship will conclude on Saturday with the doubles final. Fahey will be defending her title alongside Tara Lumley, while Van Der Zwalmen will be joined by Margaux Randjbar.
Match Results
Friday 30 May:
5:00 PM (World Championship Challenge): Claire Fahey def Lea Van Der Zwalmen 6/0 6/2 6/0
Upcoming Matches (all times EDT):
Saturday 31 May:
2:00 PM (World Doubles Championship Final): Claire Fahey & Tara Lumley vs Lea Van Der Zwalmen & Margaux Randjbar