Gale and Williams recover from two sets down to reach British Open doubles quarter-final
Garside beats Tan in three as women's draw kicks off at British Open
The open doubles and women’s singles draws of the British Open kicked off at the Queen’s Club on Wednesday, with matches going the full distance in both draws and plenty of action on both courts, attended by healthy crowds throughout showing their support for both competitions.
The first women’s Open at Queen’s in 36 years kicked off with a match between third seed Georgie Willis and the lucky loser from qualifying and former champion from 1994, Alex Garside. Willis was persistent in attacking Garside’s slow, deep and dead serves deep into the corners causing difficulties for her opponent. From the service end, her drag serve was hitting good lengths and encouraging the lobbed volley in response. Willis was then very good picking up the ball out of the air with her double-handed backhand volley which would have looked right at home on the rackets court. Willis won the first set without dropping a game, but Garside took the first game of the second, leaning over onto the dedans ledge in disbelief. Garside continued to be more competitive through the second set as Willis struggled to close out the match as Garside slowly clawed back from a 1/4 deficit to 4-all. Willis’s frustration with her play threatened to boil over, but after some good deep shots on the floor she finally managed to find the last two games she needed.
The open doubles draw began with a match between fifth seeds Levi Gale and Lewis Williams against the two rising stars Will Flynn and Henry Henman. Flynn and Henman had the better start, earning a 5/1 lead with Henman patrolling the back of the court well enough to fend off anything Gale and Williams had to throw at them. But Gale started to make his presence be felt at the front of the court, dancing across to intercept balls coming down the middle of the court and taking time out of their opponents. They moved from 1/5 to 5-all while only letting their opponents see one set point — and even then it was off a chase that Gale defended by putting the ball into the hazard galleries. Gale and Williams themselves had a set point in the 5-all game but Gale missed an overhead volley. Two good cut-volleys from Henman later, and the set went to the younger pair.
Marker Neil Mackenzie denied Henman’s request to change his racket grip before the start of the second set, instead having to send it off to the galleries to be re-taped. With play restarting straight away instead, it was Flynn who now started to make his impact on the game felt with his volleying from the galleries now taking time out of Gale and Williams instead. Henman and Flynn maintained the service end from the end of the 1-all game until midway through the 4/1 game. The young pair used their time to hit five winning galleries in the set. They even made the option to switch and have Flynn at the back for the last game of the set, ending up in the commanding position of leading 2 sets to 0.
It was a change for the trailing pair going into the third set, now playing with Gale at the back of the court instead of Williams. Initially, Flynn and Henman picked up where they left off, taking the first two games of the set. But the tables slowly turned, as once Gale and Williams returned to the service end, Gale was able to begin really working over their opponents and started converting points into games with ease. They won the next four games, looking the strongest they had all match. Despite Henman throwing himself all over the court and Flynn volleying well, they could not do much to stop their opponents from putting a lot of pressure on during the rallies, especially when giving them an option onto the base of the tambour. They won a tight deuce game to reach 4-all, but conceded the serve in the process, with Gale and Williams using it to take back a set from the deficit.
Gale and Williams were on top of the play as the players reached the fourth set, so long as they held the service end. Gale and Williams had a two game lead wiped out midway through the second as Henman and Flynn switched to playing server-up. Their all-out attack from the service end was snuffed out by some excellent defense from Gale and Williams who sat back to bide their time waiting for the opportunity to strike. They had edged ahead to a 5/3 lead before Flynn took a medical timeout to recover his glucose levels. When play resumed, Gale and Williams took the set, sending the match into a decider. However, Flynn’s play never truly recovered. They tried finishing points as quickly as they could, but as Flynn’s effectiveness in the volley dissipated and with Henman unable to compensate for the both of them the match slipped from their grasp. Gale and Williams by this point were serving full piques, finishing off the three-and-a-half hour encounter with relative ease.
While one doubles match was taking place on the west, another started on the east, with two relatively untested pairings taking to the court. Darren Long and Bertie Vallat played together for the first time, while Zak Eadle and Nino Merola rekindled their partnership from the Under 24’s Open a decade ago. Eadle and Merola clearly came to the match with a plan, switching positions at the hazard end to put Merola onto the backhand, while also pushing up to take the galleries at the service end. The play was highly positional, with both pairs moving synergistically to cover wherever their partner left space. The result was a series of highly entertaining doubles play with quick reflexes and several charges to the net. Even though Vallat and Long ended some high profile rallies with unforced errors, in general they were the more consistent players as Eadle’s forcing struggled to find its range. Long and Vallat took the first four games of the match before the play tightened up. Eadle and Merola pulled back three close games before Vallat and Long found the last two games they needed to take the set.
Eadle and Merola opted to switch receivers at the start of the second set, with Eadle now taking Vallat’s serve. By this point, Long and Vallat were well settled as a pairing, even if Vallat had to go diving to the floor to avoid Long trying to take balls on the backhand. In particular, Long’s return of serve was dominant, putting Eadle under immediate pressure at the back of the court. Long and Vallat held the advantage throughout the second set, feeling less pressure than the first even though both resulted in the same scoreline.
Long and Vallat opted to switch back to the original receiving combinations for the third set. Eadle and Merola finally found success on the scoreboard, with Merola serving a mixture of full piques and giraffes, while the winning gallery was getting a serious workout. They earned a 3/1 lead but it wouldn’t last long, as Long and Vallat were once again able to dig in from the service end and not let a ball past them. They won the next four games to put the match well and truly to bed.
On the west court, first seed Claire Fahey played her quarter final match against qualifier Sabrina Didizian. Fahey was eager to get through the match as quickly as possible. Didizian battled as hard as she could but was no match for the reigning World Champion. Though she was somewhat comfortable dealing with Fahey’s serving, by the time the rally got underway Fahey was very easily able to produce a ball well beyond Didizian’s repertoire. Fahey wrapped up the match inside 22 minutes, keen to get prepared for her doubles match later that day.
Meanwhile on the east court, one of the closest matches in handicap terms of the entire tournament kicked off between Seacourt’s Jess Garside and Melbourne’s Jo See Tan. Tan was looking to even the score after losing to Garside at the World Championships in Newport earlier in the year. From the start, Tan was dialled in, moving her feet well and with her double-handed backhand return of serve particularly devastating. Through the early stages, Garside was hitting a few too many shots onto the back wall making it easy for Tan to mop up the result. Tan broke away early, sustaining a small advantage through the set. Garside saved two set points in the 5/3 game but Tan sealed it in the following game.
The marker swept the court in the break between the sets with moisture hanging in the air around in west London, with the players re-donning their warm-up kit with the chilly temperature on the court. Garside started the second set well, with her double-handers now hitting a piercing length into the corners. Tan was struggling to maintain the length of her serve giving Garside plenty of opportunity to put Tan under pressure immediately. Garside won the first five games of the set, and while Tan mustered a bit of fight late on, but couldn’t prevent Garside evening up the match, letting out a screeching scream when she won set point.
Garside earned herself a 3/1 lead early in the third set, finding success with balls cross court into Tan’s left-handed backhand, often beating her on the floor. Very quickly, it became a 5/2 lead and crunch time for Tan. A lobbed, bouncing grille kept her in the match, then saved her first match point with a high ball at the dedans causing Garside to jam her racket into the underside of the bandeau. Garside finally took the two hour match with a couple of shots high on the tambour, letting out an almighty scream targeted at the number 2 on the side wall. She now moves on to play Fahey in the semi-finals.
While that match was ongoing, New York’s Josh Dodgson and Melbourne’s John Woods-Casey teamed up to take on the Queen’s Club duo of Nick James and Neil Mackenzie. James barely touched a ball in the first set as Dodgson and Woods-Casey were able to pick off Mackenzie’s volley for shot after shot. The first set was over almost as soon as it had begun, with James and Mackenzie winning just seven points throughout. Though James and Mackenzie won the first game of the second set, Dodgson and Woods-Casey were content with sitting at the hazard end and waiting patiently for the errors to roll in. Even when they did find themselves with the serve, James was dumping an unhelpful number of returns of serve directly into the net. Only in the third set did James start to insert himself into the game a little, helping himself and Mackenzie to a tidy three-game lead. But Dodgson and Woods-Casey were quick to nip it in the bud, using both of their superior forehand volleys to finish off the match in straight sets — even if it did require going to a deciding game in the third. Even though they started after the Garside-Tan match was already underway, they finished well before the other match had concluded.
The last match on the west court was between second seed Tara Lumley and qualifier Alexandra Bryant — both Queen’s Club members for whom the court should not have been unfamiliar. Despite being 12 points apart on handicap, Bryant was able to match Lumley shot for shot throughout the first set through a combination of classy winners from Bryant and uncharacteristic errors from Lumley. Bryant’s constant play into Lumley’s backhand proved an effective way to find points, as Lumley’s double-hander would often spoon back over setting up another shot for Bryant. She pulled back the score from 1/4 down to 4-all, and then to 5-all by beating Lumley down the forehand side. Lumley managed to recover the set as Bryant put one too many balls onto the penthouse. She then finally refound her groove early in the second set, hitting a better length shot and peppering the grille whenever possible. She won the last six games unanswered to progress through to the semi-finals.
The day ended with the last doubles first round match, with Claire Fahey on court for her second match of the day partnering Louis Gordon against the qualifiers Ned Batstone and James Medlow. It wasn’t until the third game for the match’s first chase, with Batstone and Medlow winning the first two entirely from the hazard end. Fahey was having to maintain a high workload, as Medlow and Batstone were unrelenting in firing shot after shot down the forehand side of the court. The set flew by in just 18 minutes, with Medlow and Batstone winning doubles as many points. The second set represented something of a turnaround as Gordon settled into his enforcer role. He and Fahey built a 3/1 lead before Batstone and Medlow bunkered down defensively, weathering the storm back to 3-all. Gordon wasn’t having any of it, blasting through the last 3 games while Fahey played error-free to level up the match at 1 set all.
The third set was one way traffic in the favour of Batstone and Medlow, with both young players picking the ball out of the air well. They were particularly strong from the serving end, barely letting a ball past them. The set ended somewhat comically, with Fahey giving Gordon a telling off for failing to successfully lose the point at 5/1, 40-0 down to switch receivers as his shot ricocheted off the net cord. He let the next ball go, switching to take Batstone’s serve for the fourth set. The changed receivers swung the match again as Gordon was able to dominate Batstone’s serve as they won the first four games of the set. Along the way, Medlow received a conduct warning for language. Gordon’s forcing was particularly strong in building an advantage they would hold for the rest of the set. More aware of the end-of-set tactics this time around, when Gordon hit a force high on set point at 5/2 laying a better than first chase, he and Fahey came down the service end but did not wish to stay there. Batstone hit a high back wall with Fahey framing the volley as the ball came past her to avoid winning the set too quickly. Gordon stepped up and served a rarely-seen pound serve — hit hard onto the side penthouse, up onto the high back wall and out to near the stroke line — to try and force a hazard chase which Batstone then double-boasted to better than half a yard, with Fahey standing by bewildered. Even though they didn’t beat that chase they were still able to win the set a few moments later from the hazard end, with their choice in receiving pairs.
Despite the efforts in forcing their preferred setup for the fifth and final set, Fahey and Gordon were not able to capitalise on the situation, as Batstone and Medlow soon re-established their lead. Medlow was working a serious shift at the back of the court dealing with the double threat of Fahey’s floor shot deep into the corner and Gordon’s rapid forces, while Batstone was eager to make each of his interventions at the galleries have their maximum impact. Before long, they had a four game lead and the match seemed to have turned its final corner. But the saga was not yet fully written. Batstone and Medlow were two points from the match in the 5/1 game, but failed to beat two chases before Gordon won the game with a series of excellent volleys high in front of the tambour. In the next game, Batstone and Medlow had two match points, both of which Gordon swatted away with fast balls low at the tambour. Gordon saved another match point in the 5/3 game with a force struck into the dedans from near the grille boasted off the battery wall beneath the second gallery that left all four players in shock — a feat that almost shouldn’t be physically possible. They had points to level up at 4/5, with Fahey so desperate to keep the ball alive that she played the ball from at her toes and underneath her body as she dove over the top of it, sliding into the battery wall and watching helplessly as Batstone placed the ball down the other side of the court. Fahey saved the fourth match point on chase the door with two framed shots that barely trickled over the net and with Medlow coming forward to slam it into the cord. Only on the fifth match point did Fahey frame her volley, dropping her racket to the floor then kicking it at the net before joining her opponents in the middle for a hug.
Play continues on Thursday at the earlier start time of 9:00 AM with the women’s singles semi-finals and open singles quarter-finals, all on the east court at Queen’s.
Match results:
Queen’s East:
12:00 PM: Georgie Willis (3) def Alex Garside 6/0 6/4
2:00 PM: Darren Long & Bertie Vallat def Zak Eadle & Nino Merola 6/3 6/3 6/4
4:00 PM: Jo See Tan lost to Jess Garside (4) 6/4 1/6 3/6
6:00 PM: Claire Fahey & Louis Gordon lost to Ned Batstone & James Medlow 1/6 6/3 1/6 6/2 3/6
Queen’s West:
12:00 PM: Levi Gale & Lewis Williams (5) def Will Flynn & Henry Henman 5/6 1/6 6/4 6/3 6/1
2:00 PM: Claire Fahey (1) def Sabrina Didizian 6/0 6/0
4:00 PM: Nick James & Neil Mackenzie lost to Josh Dodgson & John Woods-Casey (6) 0/6 2/6 5/6
6:00 PM: Alexandra Bryant lost to Tara Lumley (2) 5/6 1/6
Order of play for Thursday (all times GMT):
9:00 AM: Tara Lumley (2) vs Georgie Willis (3)
10:30 AM: Will Flynn vs Nick Howell (2)
12:30 PM: Robert Fahey (4) vs Robert Shenkman (6)
2:30 PM: Claire Fahey (1) vs Jess Garside (4)
4:00 PM: John Lumley (1) vs Levi Gale
6:00 PM: Bryn Sayers (7) vs Ben Taylor-Matthews (3)
What a comeback from Gale and Williams! Coming back from 2 sets down in a best of 5 requires incredible mental strengh. I loved the tactical switch of putting Gale at the back for the third set, that really seemed to shift the momentum. The way he controled the tempo from there and worked over Flynn and Henman with pressure at the tambour was impressive. Three and a half hours of real tennis at its finest!