Four matches go the distance at British Open Super Sunday
Woods-Casey, Vallat, Merola and Eadle through in thrillers
It was a day packed with action and drama at Queen’s Club for the first day of the 2024 British Open. For the first time, matches were scheduled on both the west and east courts, with all eight first round matches taking place. Both courts saw decent sized crowds, with patrons filtering between the two as the drama wound up and down on each. Four matches went to the full five sets, including one that featured match points to both players.
The first match on the East court was between Queen’s Club amateur Bertie Vallat and Leamington Tennis Court Club Head Professional Lewis Williams. Both players exchanged early games, before Vallat got a few breaks his way and established a small lead following some accurate shots into the corners, putting Williams under significant pressure nad dominating the serve. Williams would concede the set with a double fault defending a hazard chase. Vallat then went missing through the second set, as William’s hitting improved. Vallat got drawn into William’s hitting game and tried forcing William’s railroads to little success, as Williams won the set to love. Vallat received a formal warning for slamming his racket on the floor. Vallat finally broke the spell in the third game of the third set, as he retuned to his strengths in the floor game. Vallat then went on a run of his own, winning five unanswered games to move from 1/3 down to winning the set 5/3 on the back of some good grille hitting and retrieval. Williams broke the rythym by putting Vallat off balance with some well-weighted pique serves, but it wasn’t enough as Vallat won the set on the third attempt.
The players took a short toilet break between the third and fourth sets, and it was Williams who came back stronger. He found the dedans again from the hazard end, and continued to trouble Vallat with his pique serves. The set would last just 18 minutes, as Vallat struggled to string any points together. Vallat regrouped for the final set, with the first game going to deuce and Vallat winning the second. It was Vallat’s turn again to go on a run with high quality and consistent tennis. The young amateur did not show any nerves as he closed out the match, slotting a gallery to win a hazard chase. It was William’s third consecutive five set match in a British Open first round, and his first such defeat.
Next followed home professional Neil Mackenzie and Ladies World Champion Claire Fahey. Mackenzie got off to a quick start, troubling Fahey for pace as she made some uncharacteristic errors searching for her length. Mackenzie took the first four games before Fahey found her shots. However, the set was too far gone to bring back. Mackenzie took an injury time out at 4/1 up in the set as he was troubled by his glute. When he returned, he almost exclusively forced and volleyed and his movement was clearly hampered. Fahey wasn’t ready for the onslaught and conceded the set before too long. In the second, Fahey was able to work Mackenzie to the corners more easily, and he was not able to chase the ball down. Fahey took three games in a row, after which it became clear that it was fruitless for Mackenzie to continue and he retired the match.
The match was followed by a much anticipated matchup between Tuxedo Club’s Tim Chisholm and Royal Melbourne Tennis Club’s John Woods-Casey. especially given Chisholm’s comments on his singles play in his pre-tournament interview. Chisholm came out strong, hitting his cut-volley with plenty of venom and putting Woods-Casey under pressure from the start as he took a well-fought first set. Woods-Casey made plenty of errors across the course of the set, both forced and unforced. Woods-Casey tidied up his game in the second, playing largely faultless tennis on his way to taken the set 6/2, albeit the set coming from a ball coming down flush with the dedans penthouse. Chisholm responded in the third with some big volley returns, both cut into the corner and hard at the main wall. Chisholm had the edge through the set, though Woods-Casey was always in the running. Chisholm brought up a 5/3 lead but Woods-Casey was not yet done. He was playing from a ready position a long way up the court around chase 4 and moving across to volley or turning back into the corners like a squash player. Chisholm had 3 set points at 5/4 but could not convert. Woods-Casey brought up his first point as a worse than 2 chase at 5-all, but Chisholm’s accuracy into the corners was enough to save it. The final game went to deuce, with Woods-Casey eventually winning defending worse than 3.
The players continued straight into the fourth set, this time with Woods-Casey the front-runner. However, as he got closer to the finish line, his nerves began to show. His serving became looser, while Chisholm had enough weapons to punish any mistakes. Woods-Casey was one game away from the match at 5/3, but then lost 6 poitns in a row. Chisholm attacked brilliantly, and brought the set back to 5-all. Woods-Casey would have a match point on a 1 and 2 chase, but could not convert. Instead, Chisholm would set two short chases at deuce and push the match into a fifth set. At a change of ends at 3/2, Chisholm walked over to the last gallery to stretch out, before keeling over onto the floor with a severe cramp. Tournament director Alistair Lumsden and marker Ben Taylor-Matthews went to assist, with the match paused for around five minutes. When play eventually resumed, Chisholm’s movement was clearly suffering. It was not smooth sailing for Woods-Casey, however, as Chisholm was still able to hit devastating cut-volleys into Woods-Casey’s forehand. Woods-Casey needed to serve well and push Chisholm into the corners to make him run. Woods-Casey was composed enough to close out the three and a half hour match despite his clearly struggling opponent.
The final match on the East court between newly appointed Moreton Morrell Head Professional Darren Long and Petworth Senior Professional Louis Gordon. In the first set, Gordon was on fire with his dedans hitting, putting Long under a lot of pressure on the volley. It was enough to take the first set 6/3. However, his radar went missing from the second set, as Long was able to apply more pressure in turn. However, many of Long’s shots were also inaccurate, with plenty of balls from both players hitting the penthouses. Long looked best when taking the pace off and making Gordon move into the corners, but instead he was intent on hitting at the dedans. Between them, the players hit 39 dedans in the match. Both players weren’t 100%, with Long nursing his back and Gordon his legs. Long won the next three sets but failed to show his full potential.
Over on the West Court, the day stated with British Open debutant Tony Hollins and US amateur Freddie Bristowe. Bristowe is alternating playing the British Open real tennis with the British Amateur rackets, also held at Queen’s Club this week. The crowd were perhaps expecting a closer encounter as the pair went to three sets at the Spring Invitational in New York in October. Instead, Bristowe was dominant, winning the first set to love and the first three games of the second. Hollins rallied briefly in the second, but Bristowe was largely comfortable finishing off the match in straight sets.
The Radley battle followed next, with Nino Merola and Henry Henman doing battle. Merola was poor to start, with several wild shots and missed volleys allowing Henman to take the first five games easily followed and thence the set 6/1. Merola responded in the second, taking the first four games. However, he started to slip towards the end of the match, letting Henman back in slightly. Merola closed out 6/3. The third set was closely fought to 3-all. Merola was making full use of the surfaces of the court with plenty of boasting as he took the next three straight games to open a 2-1 lead. Henman retrieved well at the start of the fourth, digging plenty of balls out his backhand with his two-handed techinque. Henman won a long deuce exchange in the second game, and survived Merola’s interrogation of his backhand as he took a 4/0 lead. Merola made several errors and wasn’t hitting the ball cleanly as Henman took the set 6/2. Merola took a stretch break at the start of the final set. The errors continued into the final set, but Henman could not capitalise, as Merola was able to finish points sooner than Henman. Ulimately, Merola’s winners outweighed his errors as he won the final set of a tough match.
An unexpected rematch between Will Flynn and Zak Eadle followed, with Flynn promoted as a lucky loser following the withdrawal of Levi Gale. The two played the previous year, with Eadle the victor 6/5 in the fifth. History would repeat. Both players are hard strikers of the ball, with plenty of extravagance and flair. Neither player would gain much of an advantage through the first four sets of the match. the biggest lead being Flynn’s second set at 6/2. In the final set Flynn reached 5 games first, but the final game would prove elusive.
Eadle was unpressured as he too reached 5 games, and what followed was a tense and epic 5-all deciding game. Flynn took first blood with a lucky ball flush with the back wall, followed by a difficult volley to lay a hazard chase. A short chase followed, with Flynn winning the hazard and losing the short chases. A mistimed backhand on the high back wall gave Eadle the chance to level up at 30-all, with a ball onto the base of the tambour giving the first match point to Eadle. Flynn drove the return of serve at the nick to save the first match point and take the game to deuce. Eadle’s next shot hit the top and bottom ledges of the grille before Flynn’s next force knocked the racket out of Eadle’s hands. On Flynn’s first match point, Eadle served a perfect chandelle that was unreturnable. Back at deuce, Eadle won the next point onto the high tambour. Flynn thick-boasted the next serve to lay a chase better than 5. Eadle put his cut-volley into the net from Flynn’s railroad to bring up a third deuce. Eadle volleyed Flynn’s bobble uncontrolled and high, allowing Flynn to kill the ball and bring up his second match point. However, he mis-read the return, and could not pull of his between the legs shot to go back to deuce. Eadle lay a better than 5 chase of his own before slotting a straight dedans. Eadle’s underarm twist on his match point tipped the edge of the dedans by a few milimeters on the way down to ace Flynn and win the match.
The last match of the day saw James Medlow doing battle against Vaughan Hamilton. Hamilton was the better player throughout, his experience greatly improved from his last appearance at the British Open where he lost in the first round of qualifying. Hamilton played with his characterstic chaos and flair and was too strong for Medlow throughout, winning in straight sets.
Match results::
(East Court) 11:00 am Bertie Vallat def Lewis Williams 6/3 0/6 6/4 0/6 6/2
(West Court) 11:00 am Tony Hollins lost to Freddie Bristowe 0/6 3/6 2/6
(East Court) 1:00 pm Claire Fahey def Neil Mackenzie (Q) 2/6 3/0 ret.
(West Court) 1:00 pm Henry Henman (Q) lost to Nino Merola 6/1 3/6 3/6 6/2 2/6
(East Court) 3:00 pm John Woods-Casey def Tim Chisholm 1/6 6/3 4/6 6/3 6/5
(West Court) 3:00 pm Will Flynn (LL) lost to Zak Eadle (Q) 5/6 6/2 6/4 3/6 5/6
(East Court) 5:00 pm Darren Long def Louis Gordon 3/6 6/1 6/4 6/1
(West Court) 5:00 pm James Medlow (Q) lost to Vaughan Hamilton 3/6 4/6 4/6
Order of Play for Monday:
12:00 pm Robert Shenkman (7) vs Freddie Bristowe
2:00 pm Matthieu Sarlangue (8) vs Nino Merola
4:00 pm Bertie Vallat vs Ben Taylor-Matthews (3)
6:00 pm Robert Fahey (4) vs Darren Long
Tickets are still available for the main draw matches here: https://tennis-rackets.eventize.co.uk/calendars/tennis
For full match listings see the Tennis and Rackets Association: https://www.tennisandrackets.com/real-tennis/tournaments-fixtures/british-open-singles-and-doubles-championships-2024#overview