Fahey and Taylor-Matthews to play off for Schochet Cup

Both record wins over pre-tournament favourites in 3 hour semi-finals

Ben Taylor-Matthews and Robert Fahey both won through long, thrilling semi-finals at the Schochet Cup on Saturday at Newport, both beating out higher seeded players on their way through to a tantalising final matchup.

Just the top four seeds remained in the draw for the semi-finals. The first was between John Lumley and Ben Taylor-Matthews — the first and third seeds respectively — who had both been on cruise control throughout the tournament to date. This matchup was much tighter though, proving a battle for both players with little to separate them through the first set. Taylor-Matthews served tight yet varied serves, looking to close down points quickly, while Lumley was battling his way into rallies and dominated more as the play wore on. Taylor-Matthews earned himself four set points in the tenth game — all from the service end and including one defending a chase 2 and 3, but Lumley’s precision in his return of serve saw all four fended off. By the eleventh and final game of the set, Lumley raced to a 40–0 lead, going on to win the set, defending a short chase leaving Taylor-Matthews to rue the opportunity missed.

The second set was one way traffic in the favour of Taylor-Matthews. He limited his errors while Lumley’s scrambling play style didn’t return any balls with sufficient venom to trouble his opponent. A few clinical finishes later, and Taylor-Matthews’s early advantage turned into an insurmountable lead, evening the match at 1-all in sets.

The third set was back to an even contest as Lumley rediscovered his shotmaking. The set followed a similar path to the first set, with Taylor-Matthews recovering from behind to lead the set going into the tenth game. This time, though, he would win the set on the first attempt with a straight force down the backhand side, sacrificing a racket string in the process.

By the fourth set, Lumley’s play was looking more and more assured as he looked to be positive, attacking Taylor-Matthews deep into the corners and getting on top of the play. After breaking out to an early lead, the surety of a lead on the scoreboard made Lumley look more relaxed and confident, while Taylor-Matthews was fighting as hard as he could to stay in touch. Unforced errors were largely absent and the rallies were long and arduous, which favoured Lumley. At 2–5 down, Taylor-Matthews decided to save his remaining resources for the final set, serving out an intentional double fault to concede the set.

In the final set, Taylor-Matthews was again unstoppable. He was able to hold down the service end for much of the set, winning plenty of points onto and around the tambour while making very few mistakes. When he did find himself at the hazard end, he was able to quickly find chases either on a cut-volley to the forehand or by taking a gallery mid-rally. Lumley never gave in but couldn’t find one last momentum shift. Taylor-Matthews won the final set without dropping a game, ending the three hour battle with a flush-back-wall high serve. He will now play his first Schochet Cup final after losing at the semi-final stage on six previous occasions — indeed, it will be his first tournament final on US soil in his career.

The second semi-final was between Rob Fahey and Nick Howell. Despite Howell maintaining the superior seeding, Fahey maintained an almost unblemished record over Howell with just two defeat in 14 previous encounters — once having retired from the 2019 Australian Open and the other at the 2017 Champions Trophy. Fahey was unstoppable during the first set. He wound back the years with his forcing, slotting several past Howell through the course of the set, and otherwise controlled the play well. Howell was looking a bit tentative chasing balls down into the corners, protecting his heavily strapped right calf. Fahey took the first set without dropping a game.

It wouldn’t be until the ninth game of the match before Howell registered on the scoreboard for the first time. Doing so lit a fire under Howell, taking the next four straight games as his movement on the court freed up, while more errors were creeping into Fahey’s game. Once he cut them out again, the play was finally on level terms, with the second set going to a deciding game. Fahey saved set point with the tightest possible railroad before Howell won the next one with the tightest possible giraffe.

Fahey established a slight edge at the start is the third set, as both players opted for all out attack. The tension was high — with the fifth game alone seeing Fahey in a long debate with the marker over a fault call and Howell taking a swipe at the wall having missed a volley. As the set wore on, the rallies were getting more and more outlandish. Fahey’s ability to find the corner of the dedans proved key as he held his lead through the set.

The frustration was mounting for Howell, taking another swipe at the wall after losing the first game of the fourth set. He tried taking it out on the ball, looking more to force and boast rather than finesse and cut. It bought him a couple of games, with Fahey throwing his racket around on multiple occasions in despair, at one point kicking it into the net. Fahey then regrouped for one final push to the finish, putting his target hitting on full display as he won the final four games of the match.

The final will take place on Sunday with Fahey looking to add to a trophy that already bears his name eight times from victories in the 2000s and Taylor-Matthews seeking his first major singles title.

Match results:

• 3:00 PM: John Lumley (1) lost to Ben Taylor-Matthews (3) 6/5 1/6 4/6 6/2 0/6

• 5:00 PM: Rob Fahey (4) def Nick Howell (2) 6/0 5/6 6/2 6/4

Upcoming matches (all times EDT):

• 11:00 AM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (3) vs Rob Fahey (4)

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Nick Howell had only beaten Rob Fahey once — this version has been updated to include his win at the 2017 Champions Trophy