Fahey wins 11th US Open but Van Der Zwalmen and Clark steal doubles crown
Results raise stakes and intrigue for World Championships in May
Claire Fahey has won the 2025 US Open in a scintillating match against Lea Van Der Zwalmen at the Racquet Club of Philadelphia on Sunday, holding off a high quality attack from the French-woman. Van Der Zwalmen then took her revenge in the doubles, winning an exhilirating 3 set match with new partner Annie Clark, winning her second doubles title.
First, there was the matter of resolving the doubles semi finals. Claire Fahey and Jo See Tan took on the Philadelphian pairing of Victoria Scott and Alexis Dorr. Fahey and Tan served tight and reliable railroads throughout, getting the ball to kick back reliably and elicit a scooped ball down the center of the court as a response. The number one seeds were exemplary in their grille hitting from the easy balls. Even though she is not a natural volleyer, Tan played at the galleries, letting Fahey maraude the back of the court mopping up anything loose. The left-handed Tan impressed in the grille corner with forehands attacking across court, reaching up to volley balls threatning the opening. Scott took their only game of the match with three consecutive nick railroads.
The second semi final saw Bordeaux’s Lea Van Der Zwalmen pairing up with Westwood’s Annie Clark to play the Aiken duo of Claire Voegele and Kadi Meldrum. Van Der Zwalmen patrolled the back of the court, sending Clark up to the galleries. Her lawn tennis pedigree made her a feirce volleyer, though that came with a weakness on the hazard side with her backhands under the grille. Van Der Zwalmen relaxed into the match, content with playing sides once they were 5-0 up. It was at that point where the Aiken pair took their solitary game of the set, catching out Clark with heavy top-spin balls into her forehand corner. Meldrum impressed with her gallery volleys as well, hitting across to Clark. But ultimately, Van Der Zwalmen was the strongest player on court and imposed herself on the game when it mattered.
The crowds filtered in for the main event in the early afternoon: the singles final between Claire Fahey and Lea Van Der Zwalmen. Fahey was looking to keep her 15 year unbeaten run in tact, while Van Der Zwalmen was still hunting for a first set off Fahey. The court was more suited to the rallying style preferred by Van Der Zwalmen than the recent Australian Open final in Hobart, where the ball cuts more severe and the targets are smaller. The rallies were long and intense, both showing off their excellent retrieving skill. Van Der Zwalmen was biding her time in the rallies, looking for opportunities to hit openings when they arose.
The Frenchwoman took the first game of the match, before Fahey bounced back with a couple of winning openings. Fahey was struggingling to find a good length on her railroads, allowing Van Der Zwalmen to launch herself at a series of impressive volleys into Fahey’s forehand corner. Fahey was also trying to push the pressure on a little, hitting an number of forces into the net. Van Der Zwlamen was getting the better of the backhand exchanges as neither player took more than a game advantage through the first half of the set.
The seventh game was particulaly tight, with a long exchange of deuces until Fahey finally snuck a ball into the dedans. Fahey then broke through for her biggest lead of the set as she capitilized on a run of good shots. Fahey brought up her first set point at 5-3, advantage. Her force was on target for the dedans, but Van Der Zwalmen volleyed it on her backhand at full stretch, sending the ball sailing into the grille. A smile on her face, Van Der Zwalmen waved her finger around in the air to juice up the crowd. On her next ball, she struck the winning gallery ledge, sending Fahey into a spin. She recovered and got the ball back over the net but it was to no avail as Van Der Zwalmen was there to clean up the crumbs. Fahey got on top of the points in the 5-4 game, though, finally finding some cut from the back wall as she comfortably won the game and the first set.
Fahey was looking in better touch at the start of the second set, taking the game on and play good, attacking tennis. She found a better weight of shot, giving the ball more height over the net but making it dip and cut down once it reached the back wall. At the service end, she made better use of the tambour, angling the ball to come behind Van Der Zwalmen. Van Der Zwalmen lost some of her impetus through the first half of the set, only finding it again in the fifth game after winning a couple of long rallies. It wouldn’t be enough as Fahey closed out the set comfortably 6/0 to win her 11th US Open title, and her 45th overall Open title.
It was a short break before the doubles final, which saw Fahey and Tan playing Van Der Zwalmen and Clark. Fahey and Tan made a strong start, benefiting from some nervy gallery volleys from Clark, earning a 3-0 lead in no time. Van Der Zwalmen and Clark finally had a long run at the service, with the World Number 2 finding success with he picking Tan off the tambour. They brought the score back to 3-all as Van Der Zwalmen picked off Tan’s loose return of serve to hit the grille. From the service end, Tan was playing notably deep, not pushing up much beyond last gallery but still getting cramped for room on her left-handed forehand. The next two games were shared either way, but Van Der Zwalmen was looking noticably pumped up. They had the bulk of the serve in the last two games of the set, with Van Der Zwalmen winning the set with a grille, throwing a huge fist-pump.
Fahey was determined to put the disappointment of the first set behind her, dominating the play from the service end at the start of the set and getting a good run going. Tan’s confidence volleying grew as well, pushing further up and having more success as they won four games in a row to build a solid lead in the set. Van Der Zwalmen and Clark managed to string a brace of games together midway through the set, but Fahey was otherwise in total control of the match.
It was 1 set all going into the final set of the tournament. Van Der Zwalmen and Clark took the lead again at the start of the set, utilising the tambour angle to push the ball tight onto the back wall. Fahey and Tan responded by winning back the serve, with Tan playing her best volley of the match killing the ball under the tambour. She couldn’t hold that form though, dropping the next game through a pair of volley errors followed by a double fault from the usually clinical Fahey. The fourth was better for the number one seeds, holding the serve throughout and squaring the match off at 2-all. Van Der Zwalmen and were able to pick on Tan’s volley as she and Clark picked up eight points in a row to take the score to 4-2.
The seventh game was a long deuce exchange, with both pairs having advantage several times, along with several changes of ends. The game eventually went the way of Van Der Zwalmen and Clark, as the Frenchwoman threaded a ball in between Tan and the wall as she was playing up in-front of the tambour. The shot took the number 2 seeds to a 5-2 lead. With Clark serving, they won the final game to love, with Van Der Zwalmen placing the ball past Tan into the winning gallery to win the Championship. It was the second doubles Open title for Van Der Zwalmen, and the first for Clark in her debut performance. It marked the second loss for Fahey in a doubles Open in the last decade, following her loss to Van Der Zwalmen and Bollerman in the 2022 French Open.
Match results:
9:00 am (Doubles semi final): Claire Fahey & Jo See Tan def Alexis Dorr & Victoria Scott 6/1 6/0
10:00 am (Doubles semi final): Lea Van Der Zwalmen & Annie Clark def Kadi Meldrum & Claire Voegele 6/1 6/0
1:00 pm (Singles Final): Claire Fahey def Lea Van Der Zwlamen 6/4 6/0
2:00 pm (Doubles Final): Lea Van Der Zwalmen & Annie Clark def Claire Fahey & Jo See Tan 6/4 3/6 6/2