Fahey into IRTPA Players' Championship final with impressive win over Lumley
Taylor-Matthews pushes Riviere but World Champion delivers goods
Robert Fahey has reached yet another major tournament final where he will face off against long-term rival Camden Riviere at the IRTPA Players’ Championships at the Aiken Tennis Club following the former’s straight-sets victory over world number 2 John Lumley on Saturday.
Aiken alumnus and Westwood touring professional Camden Riviere played the first semi-final against Westwood’s full time professional Ben Taylor-Matthews. In the 64 previous sets they had played against each other Riviere held a 59-5 record, meaning an upset victory was always a difficult proposition for Taylor-Matthews. In any case, he was not going to be left wondering, playing his shots from the start of the match and trying to catch Riviere under at least a little pressure. He would need everything to go his way, but it never seemed to, exemplified by a shot that struck the dedans bandeau, then the gallery ledge and out to worse than the door to lose a chase of the door.
Riviere’s retrieving was, as always, outstanding with Taylor-Matthews having to hit at least three certain winners every reste, and even then wasn’t guaranteed to win the point. Even the flukes were coming back over the net. Taylor-Matthews had to battle hard to reach 3-all in the first set — aided by a number of winning galleries along the way. Though he was able to pull off several brilliant shots and great winners, the difference came down to the error count, as Riviere cut his towards zero by the end of the set, with Taylor-Matthews’s slowly rising. Riviere ran through the last three games on his way to winning the first set.
Riviere relaxed slightly into the second set, while Taylor-Matthews kept pressing on as he had always done with a combination of long backhand rallies and quick forces, earning another couple of games in the process. But Riviere’s control of his length kept causing trouble for Taylor-Matthews, allowing him to manufacture winners out of nowhere. The players exchanged games at 2-all, 3-all and 4-all, before Riviere’s dedans hitting, including a couple straight down the middle, helped him to win the last few games and sending him into the final.
Riviere’s opponent would be one of Robert Fahey or John Lumley. Fahey had had the tougher route to the semi-finals, with deciding game victory over Nick Howell in the quarter-finals, which took longer than both of Lumley’s prior matches combined. Fahey’s movement around the court was a stark contrast to Lumley’s. The former was regularly moving in anticipation of the next shot with the ball always seeming to find him wherever he was stood, while the latter kept diving into the corners to try and retrieve whatever came his way. The first few games were played to a draw, with the first six games evenly shared. The difference was perhaps Fahey’s cut-volley, able to generate very short chases relatively reliably. Fahey won the last three straight games, sealing the first set with a main wall dedans.
Lumley was lacking some of his incisiveness in the second set, as he struggled to make Fahey work hard for any reward. Fahey was serving devilishly difficult underarm twists that stole any opportunity for a cut-volley as they ran down from the side wall skidding along the penthouse, with Lumley spooning them off his toes to an awaiting Fahey. When down the hazard end, Fahey started pounding forces to the dedans with impressive regularity. The former World Champion dominated the play in the set, with Lumley only able to muster a single game, qualifying for his second consecutive final of a major tournament, having missed both the French Open and Champions Trophy over the summer — his best calendar year record since his retirement.
The tournament will conclude on Sunday with the final between Camden Riviere and Robert Fahey, which will be the 34th time the two rivals have taken to the court in a major final since 2006. Unlike the rest of the tournament, the final will be played as a best-of-5 set match.
Match results:
2:00 PM: Camden Riviere (1) def Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) 6/3 6/4
4:00 PM: Robert Fahey (5) def John Lumley (2) 6/3 6/1
Order of play for Sunday (all times EDT):
12:30 PM: Camden Riviere (1) vs Robert Fahey (5)