Defending French Open champion Steve Virgona avoided the ignominy of a first round defeat, narrowly beating Bertie Vallat in five sets and over four hours in Paris on Monday. Meanwhile, Vaughan Hamilton held firm against eight seed Nino Merola in another five set battle that went past midnight, while John Lumley and Ben Taylor-Matthews cruised through their early round matches in the morning session
The morning session began with the first round match between second seed, John Lumley, and the previous year’s semi-finalist, Levi Gale. For Lumley, it was the first step on the road to completing his career Grand Slam, while for Gale it was the first tournament after a several month lay-off due to injury. Lumley immediately started testing Gale’s backhand, giving him difficult half-volleys under the battery wall. Lumley was content to push the ball around, making Gale work hard for every point, scraping the ball back over and over again. Gale tried to find counterplay by forcing or boasting for the dedans and the grille, but it came at the increased risk of a penthouse or hazard chase. Pace seemed to be the only thing that could beat Lumley’s retriving, as Gale stayed within touching distance throughout the first set. Lumley had set point in the 5/4 game, brought up with a ball that nicked on the back wall after a long rally, with Gale dropping his racket to the floor in dismay. Gale recovered the next point, sending the set into a deciding game instead. Lumley was not fussed, playing a solid final game dropping only a couple of points to Gale’s drives as he secured the first set.
Even though Gale was matching Lumley thoughout the second set, the World Number 2 still managed to maintain a slight edge on the scoreboard. Lumley was giving away marginally fewer free balls, helping him maintain the slight upper hand. Lumley eventually got a break going his way, courtesy of an extended run at the service end. He raced through the last few games in his easiest run of the match. The start of the third set was slightly delayed, owing to rain falling onto the court through an open window. Gale tried reaching deep into his bag of tricks to change his fortunes for the third set, but it only seemed to play Lumley further into the match. A late few blasts at the dedans from Gale were not enough to prevent Lumley from taking the match.
The second match of the morning was a past-and-present head-to-head from Bristol. Current head pro, Zak Eadle, took on his predecessor and fourth seed, Ben Taylor-Matthews, the latter locked in a battle for the fourth World Race place against Steve Virgona. Eadle’s hunt for quick winners was doing him a disservice, as Taylor-Matthews was ready and able to mop up anything loose, playing the ball back into difficult areas in his trademark style. Though he took on the targets when open, including half-a-dozen winning galleries, Taylor-Matthews was playing largely without risk. Eadle won his first and only game midway through the first set. By the third, Eadle’s fight had abandoned him, allowing Taylor-Matthews to ease his way to victory. His win also secured a return back to the World Number 4 ranking, should Virgona not reach the tournament final, easing his draw for the upcoming rankings events in the World Race.
A long break followed before the evening session, when Steve Virgona stepped on court to get his French Open campaign underway against Bertie Vallat. Virgona went straight into top gear, slamming every ball at pace throught the rallies. Vallat sat back and absorbed, knowing the ball was not going to cut down on the Parisian court and that he would be able to put in a decent return regardless. Despite the lopsided posture, the match was a test to see who would make an error first. They exchanged games throughout the set, until Vallat started to really get his railroad to kick. With Virgona having to scrape the ball off the wall, Vallat had the opportunity to attack back, winning the last two games and taking the first set.
Vallat’s confidence in winning the first set carried into the second, becoming more expansive in his shot-making. Virgona, meanwhile, wound it back slightly, seeking to play more consistent tennis without hitting everything at top speed. Counterintutively, this made Virgona more ruthless, as Vallat had less to work with off the penthouse and Vallat had more to defend in the dedans. Virgona quickly took command of the set, keeping the points short and leaving Vallat with more questions to answer.
By the third set, Vallat was on the back foot but holding his own during the rallies, whilst also taking advantage of the set pieces to pick off dedans and grilles. With chases few and far between, the advantage fell to the player at the service end. Tension was high, with Vallat having to make several tight chase and stroke calls at the hazard end, despite being unsure of the French chase rules. Once again, they were exchanging games for the first six games, before Virgona broke away late in the set. Virgona had set point in the 5/3 game, but sent a ball onto the tambour which bounced out into the hazards — just avoiding the stroke line. Vallat instead sent the set to a deciding game. Vallat opened it with a grille, but then conceded two chases. A straight force and a cut volley later, Vallat had a set point, but despite Virgona hitting the penthouse, the ball fell flush to the back wall and Vallat didn’t have the strength to boast it out. Two more chases at deuce, and Virgona had a set point that Vallat defended with a ball dying under the grille. Virgona went up again after striking the dedans, but upon changing ends again, Vallat fended it off with a force of his own. Back down the service end again, Vallat served two tight serves to finally press his seal on an hour-long set.
Virgona took a break before the start of the fourth set, returning without the glasses he had been wearing in the match to date. It took him the first game to readjust, before refinding his groove to take the next couple easily. A couple of tight deuce games followed, with Virgona first stretching to a three-game lead. Vallat stole one back before the seventh game, which went through eight deuces, eventually going the way of Virgona. Vallat took a cheap game, but Virgona was strong enough to close out an equally cheap one to close another hour-long set.
Into the fifth and final set and with the match approaching a fifth hour, nothing could separate the two as the lead oscillated from side to side. Vallat was increasingly frustrated and vocal while Virgona was tiring; neither were hitting their targets as well as they had earlier in the match. They battled to 3-all before Virgona finally broke ahead with a ball striking the bottom ledge of the dedans and recoilling back onto the penthouse for Virgona to slot into the winning gallery. Vallat had to dig deep, fighting back against the two game deficit. Vallat had a chance to send the match into a deciding game, but couldn’t convert it. At deuce at 5/4, a ball with very heavy top spin kicked high over Virgona’s head. He controlled it down to a chase 6, which was enough to secure the match. In doing so, he kept his World Race alive, as he could ill afford any deficit to Taylor-Matthews.
Two hours behind schedule, the last of the first round matches saw eighth seed Nino Merola take on the unseeded Vaughan Hamilton. Hamilton immediately found his length on his railroad, getting several to nick out in the first game alone. In general, they were both keeping the points short, attacking the cut-volley or driving or boasting for long chases. Merola spent the first set experimenting with his serve, but the steep Parisian penthouse prooved a difficult beast to tame. At the other end, Merola was falling foul of Hamilton’s serving as he gave away point after point on the cut-volley. Seeing his opponent was struggling, Hamilton pressed harder, refusing to allow the Radley professional to establish any rythmn. It took until he was 0/4 down in the second set before he could raise his level to match Hamilton. He found three games, and saved a set point on chase one, but Hamilton ultimately secured the two-set lead.
With Merola now settled on his railroad and finding his strings more regularly, Hamilton was under scoreboard pressure for the first time in the match. Defensive strategy went out the window eas each tried to bully the other off the court. Merola led the set from start to finish, never extending by more than two games. He backed his forcing, beating several short chases as Hamilton grew annoyed at his inability to close the match. Merola took the third set and carried on into the fourth. He was determined to belt the cover off of the ball, making Hamilton defend force after force, or deal with the follow-up ball down the backhand side. Hamilton’s howls of anguish could be heard reverberating around the cavernous space. Still, Merola made enough mistakes for Hamilton to keep in touch, going game-for-game through the fourth set. Eventually, it went to a deciding game, where Hamilton picked off two early chases. Merola’s cut-volley won one and lost one, before a floated ball down Merola’s forehand gave him a force and a set point. He netted the next one, before another force brought a second set point. Vaughn muscled back the next but it was onto the penthouse, letting Merola slide it down the backhand to beat a diving Hamilton to send the second consecutive match into a fifth set.
After both players took a break to change shirts, Hamilton returned to the final set and increased his work rate, trying to pressure Merola around the base of the tambour. Merola’s forcing hot hand abandoned him, pushing more onto the penthouse or wide onto the back wall. With the match pushing past midnight, Hamilton put a run of games together for the first time since the start of the second set. With time running out, Hamilton goaded Merola into some poor shot choices while rediscovering some of his serving prowess from the first set. Hamilton won the final set without dropping a game, securing a quarter-final berth against Lumley.
Play continues on Tuesday with the four doubles quarter-finals. The doubles tournament will begin on Wednesday.
Match results:
9:00 AM: Levi Gale lost to John Lumley (2) 5/6 2/6 3/6
11:30 AM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) def Zak Eadle 6/1 6/0 6/0
5:00 PM: Bertie Vallat lost to Steve Virgona (3) 6/4 3/6 6/5 3/6 4/6
7:30 PM: Nino Merola (8) lost to Vaughan Hamilton 1/6 3/6 6/4 6/5 0/6
Order of play for Tuesday (all times CEST):
10:00 AM: Camden Riviere (1) vs Robert Shenkman (5)
1:00 PM: Lewis Williams (7) vs Steve Virgona (3)
4:00 PM: John Lumley (2) vs Vaughan Hamilton
7:00 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) vs Bryn Sayers (6)