Doble and Carney into maiden Ladies British Open Doubles Final
Fahey and Lumley to feature in singles and doubles finals
The semi-finals of the 2025 Ladies British Open have been run and won, with Claire Fahey resuming her dominance at the top of the women’s game and a pair of new faces qualifying into the doubles final.
Claire Fahey entered the competition at the semi-final stage, as she had done at each British Open since 2013, owing to her superior handicap. Her opponent was local favourite Jess Garside, urged on by a vocal and faithful Seacourt crowd. Fahey was unrelenting in her play, placing every ball into the corners and asking Garside to go fetch it — a task made more difficult by her double handed technique. Garside scraped through a solitary game, late in the second set, by virtue of a couple of short chases of her own. But the result of the match was never in doubt from the first point onwards, with Fahey recording her 32nd match victory at the British Open, sending her to her 13th singles final.
The second semi-final saw Tara Lumley play Nicola Doble. The game had plenty of short chases, as both were very effective at finding a good line and length into the corners with plenty of cut. Very few targets were hit, be they winning openings or galleries, as the battle played out on the floor. Lumley was dominant through the first set, before letting her foot off the pedal at the start of the second. Doble capitalised, winning three straight games before Lumley could return to form. When she did, she was able to seal Doble’s fate as she started to find the grille with more and more regularity. Lumley won six of the last seven games to set up a rematch of the previous year’s final against Fahey.
The doubles semi-finals followed, seeing Doble team up with Katherine Carney to face off against the mother-daughter pair of Alex and Jess Garside. Carney and Doble had been playing through the handicap doubles all week and had built a solid game plan together. The Garsides lined up in the first set with Jess at the net and Alex at the back, but it was too easy for Doble to find chases hitting the back wall and rolling out beyond what Alex could retrieve. Doble and Carney lead through the whole of the first set. The Garsides changed tactics going into the second, with Jess now taking the back of the court. She was more effective digging balls out of the forehand corner, putting the pressure back on Doble and Carney. The Garsides built up a 3-0 lead, and had points for a 5-3 lead in the second set. But Doble and Carney were unfazed, eventually finding the service end again and pressing home an advantage of their own. Doble and Carney qualified for their first British Open doubles final together, the latter the youngest player to do so since Claire Fahey in 2009.
The last doubles semi-final was between Claire Fahey and Tara Lumley, playing Rachel Hollington and Alexandra Bryant. As for the singles, Fahey dominated from start to finish. Bryant held her own digging out ball after ball from the forehand corner, but was not able to put any pressure back on Fahey and Lumley. They won their solitary game midway through the first set, and erupted in celebration. Fahey and Lumley otherwise progressed to the final untroubled.
The tournament concludes on Sunday with the singles and doubles final. The champions will only reign for seven months until the tournament moves to the Queen’s Club in November.
Match results:
1:00 PM: Claire Fahey (1) def Jess Garside (4) 6/0 6/0
2:00 PM: Nicola Doble (3) lost to Tara Lumley (2) 0/6 4/6
3:00 PM: Nicola Doble & Katherine Carney (3) def Alex Garside & Jess Garside (2) 6/3 6/5
4:00 PM: Claire Fahey & Tara Lumley (1) def Rachel Hollington & Alexandra Bryant (4) 6/0 6/1
Order of play for Sunday:
12:00 PM (Singles final): Claire Fahey (1) vs Tara Lumley (2)
2:00 PM (doubles final): Claire Fahey & Tara Lumley (1) vs Nicola Doble & Katherine Carney (3)