Fahey stuns Aiken crowd with final game thriller over home pro Howell in IRTPA Players' Championship quarter final
Riviere, Lumley & Taylor-Matthews progress untroubled
Robert Fahey has stunned the Aiken faithful with a last-game victory over home court favourite Nick Howell in the quarter final at the IRTPA Players’ Championships in front of a capacity crowd, while Camden Riviere, John Lumley and Ben Taylor-Matthews all won through their quarter finals without drama.
The quarter finals began with another chapter in the long-running rivalry between the two left-handers Camden Riviere and Steve Virgona. Riviere was very active early on, with his movement around the court looking as efficient as ever. Virgona was still sporting his red cast-red wristband combo, still playing somewhat hesitantly so as not to re-aggravate his broken wrist by slamming it full speed into a wall. The most striking feature of the first set was the regularity and consistency by which Riviere was hitting the dedans. Having been renowned as a floor player for most of his career, Riviere’s forcing is an underrated part of his game. He was keen to hit as much off the main wall as possible into the dedans every time he received a forehand, especially as it targeted Virgona’s backhand volley which had to be one-handed. Even from the service end, his target hitting was prolific. Virgona took just three points in the first five games before taking the sixth with some forcing of his own. Riviere was marginally more relaxed in the second set, securing a comfortable victory.
Riviere’s recent challenger, John Lumley, took to the court next against Robert Shenkman. In a match between two players renowned for their retrieving, the higher quality will usually win out, and so it came to pass here. Lumley was quickly able to earn the upper hand in many of the rallies, with whatever attack Shenkman could muster very quickly neutralised. Lumley’s constant turning of the screws made Shenkman’s play crack. By the second set, Lumley was even more forceful in his play, unafraid to play his shots and take as much time away as possible from Shenkman.
The evening session began with the most anticipated match of the day, as home court professional Nick Howell took on former World Champion Robert Fahey, eager to take down an opponent who has proven to be a bogeyman for Howell over the years. From the hazard end, Fahey brought out his forcing game once again, restricted only by Howell’s tight railroads. From the service end, Fahey was playing a very high court position, slightly to the backhand side around chase better than 4, allowing him to take the ball on the volley and pin it to the base of the tambour. Howell was more than capable of mustering a strong defense, targeting the nick of the back wall from either end.
The games were long and competitive, as the players saw deuce after deuce, with the first six games taking over 40 minutes to complete. Fahey established a two-game buffer but Howell doggedly brought the score back to 4-all. By the end of the set, Fahey was missing his main wall force low, with Howell able to read the angles around to take the forehand from close to the battery wall. Howell’s third straight game took him to 5/4 up, but Fahey was able to force the deciding game. A couple of tight serves — both railroads and high serves — gave Howell a couple of points, but two slightly looser ones gave Fahey a couple of dedans. A tambour misread from Fahey gave Howell a set point, and with a worse than last chase to play Howell slotted the ball into the last gallery to win the set.
Howell’s forcing game was strong at the start of the second set, helping himself to a two game lead with points for 3/0. But returning to the service end, he was once again exposed to Fahey’s forcing game and the match was well and truly on. Howell’s retrieval was excellent, with a couple of restes ending in Fahey launching his racket in a desperate attempt to connect with the ball. Nonetheless, Fahey established a slight edge, pushing through the next six straight games as Fahey was increasingly on top of Howell’s serve. The end of the second set was the first time in the match that either player had strung any long runs of points together, with Fahey looking strong as he levelled the match.
Howell finally broke Fahey’s run in the first game of the third set and their titanic battle resumed. However, despite being urged on by the full galleries in Aiken, Howell could never fully neuter Fahey’s forcing, with the former World Champion building a 4/2 lead. While Howell’s forcing kept him in the game, there were slightly too many errors to go with them. The pair exchanged the next two games, with Fahey going 5/3 up. A few missed volleys from Fahey gave Howell the next game, then a few well-directed shots into the backhand brought Howell back to 5-all.
One game was left to decide the quarter finalist. Howell took the first point with a ball on the base of the tambour, but Fahey drove a couple of balls at the low back wall to get two chases. Fahey won the first with a good backhand rally, but Howell won the second with a nice cut-volley into Fahey’s forehand. Fahey brought the score back to 30-all as some weak returns from Howell gave him a shot at the grille, before setting a hazard chase off the grille bandeau. The following point, Fahey saved the dedans at full stretch, with Howell sending the follow-up out of court. Going down the receiving end with match point and a hazard chase, Fahey launched the ball onto the high back wall, with Howell unable to stop the ball from bounding back into the net. While disappointing for the hometown favourite, Fahey keeps his extraordinary retirement party rolling on for another match.
The final match was between Ben Taylor-Matthews and Leon Smart. Taylor-Matthews’s control of the play from the service end was exceptional. He was patient and clean, working over Smart ball after ball until finally an opening emerged — more often than not the grille. Smart was competitive through the first three games, able to pull a few clever tricks out of the bag to overcome Taylor-Matthews’s consistency, but such shots became rarer as the match developed. Smart picked up a second game midway through the second set, but was otherwise not strong enough to take down the world number 4.
Play continues on Saturday with the two semi-finals, with the final to follow on Sunday.
Match results:
12:00 PM: Camden Riviere (1) def Steve Virgona (6) 6/1 6/1
1:30 PM: Robert Shenkman (8) lost to John Lumley (2) 0/6 0/6
4:30 PM: Nick Howell (3) lost to Robert Fahey (5) 6/5 2/6 5/6
6:00 PM: Leon Smart (7) lost to Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) 1/6 1/6
Order of play for Saturday (all times EDT):
2:00 PM: Rob Fahey (5) vs John Lumley (2)
4:00 PM: Camden Riviere (1) vs Ben Taylor-Matthews (4)
I believe this is a typo: Robert Shenkman (8) def John Lumley (2) 6/0 6/0