Great Britain win Bathurst Cup
Depreeuw earns sole match win for France in third-place playoff match over Williams
Great Britain have won the Bathurst Cup, following first seed Robert Shenkman’s victory over America’s Noah Motz in the reverse singles match at Paris on Saturday. Britain’s win follows the victory that their women’s team secured over the Rest of the World on Friday.
Before the final could be resolved, there were still dead rubbers to play out from the third-place play-off match between Australia and France. For both matches, Australia substituted in their reserves, while France kept their main lineup. In the second-string singles, Australia’s Rhys Williams stepped up — having also played in the doubles with Oliver Pridmore — while France played Clément Depreeuw. Both players had different visions as to how the match would play out. Williams wanted to engage Depreeuw in long, tactical battles on the backhand, but Depreeuw tried to ignore Williams and looked to attack the dedans wherever possible with off-pace drives and volleys. Depreeuw’s raw, expansive style showed up Williams’s technically correct if passive shot-making on the Paris court, where killing the ball is difficult, pulling out to a 5/2 lead in the first set. But Williams adapted to the challenge, saving set point with a railroad ace before battling back to a deciding game. In the crucial game, Williams’s precision abandoned him, putting several balls into the net and ceding the first set to France.
Depreeuw rode the wave into the second set, extending out a small lead while batting away Williams’s attempts to be more expansive in his shots. Seeing the match slip away, Williams switched back to line-and-length play. It worked, picking up a few games and starting to turn the scoreboard pressure onto Depreeuw, who started making more errors as a result. Williams won four straight games before Depreeuw blasted through the next two, leaving the score at 4-all. Over the following two games, every point ended in a Depreeuw winner or error, with Williams sitting in with consistent play to force a third set.
A confident Williams led into the third set, quickly stretching out a four-game lead. But as the finish line approached, the nervous wobbles kicked back in, losing control of the ball. Depreeuw never lost the fight, battling back to 2/4 and then again to 4/5 as Williams couldn’t seem to find the final few points he needed. Along the way, Depreeuw saved two match points at 3/5 with dead balls under the grille and again at 4/5 with winning service returns down the forehand side, with the match coming down to one deciding game. Depreeuw did the hard work from the hazard end, winning points out of Williams’s forehand corner with the help of the penthouse and, separately, the dedans. He secured the match at the first opportunity, notching up France’s first match-win of the tournament.
The remaining dead rubber in the match was between the other Australian reserve Paul Rosedale and the French first seed Jean-Baptiste Rossi. Rossi had the better start, putting his strings on every ball, both outlasting Rosedale in the longer rallies and having the better winners. Knowing that he wasn’t going to out-rally Rossi, Rosedale leant into hitting winners, but found it a difficult task on the Parisian court. Rossi went up 4/1 in the first set, before Rosedale was able to lean on his serving experience — in particular his railroads — to claw the scoreline back to evens. The set went to a deciding game, which followed the pattern of the rest of the set: Rossi had the early lead but after Rosedale found a couple of short chases he successfully held his serve to take the set.
Rosedale powered on, opening a three-game lead in the second set backed by his service-end play. His progress slowed by the fourth game, which saw a long deuce exchange eventually fall the way of the Australian. The fifth game was similar, with the play revolving around regular chases and with both players needing the serve to make progress. This time, it went to Rossi, who kept throwing himself around the court to keep the ball alive as long as possible, often ending up on his knees or front in his retrieval. Rossi pulled the scoreline all the way back to 4/5 but once again Rosedale’s railroad came to the rescue, as he sealed the match, and a 4-1 overall win for Australia.
With the third place playoff out of the way, it was time for the final destination of the Bathurst Cup to be determined. Great Britain were one win away from victory, with their best hopes lying with their first seed, Robert Shenkman in his reverse singles match against the American second seed Noah Motz. Motz took the opening game with a pair of tambour winners and a dedans, but the joy ended there for the American. Shenkman’s world-class dedans defensive skills came to the fore once again, fending off anything on target and turning everything else into an opportunity to put Motz under immediate pressure. Even from the hazard end, Shenkman was able to pick off Motz’s serve with ease as he raced through the rest of the first set, sealing it with a railroad ace.
Motz picked up the first game of the second set as well, again with a good passage of attacking play, but Shenkman was once again quick to dismiss any notions of the set being competitive. He quickly pushed ahead again, leaving Motz with no options but to continue to thrash at the ball in the hope that something would break. Shenkman was too solid, giving up one further game in the second set with Motz letting his frustration with his lack of progress show. By the third set, the match was no longer a contest, with a confident Shenkman blitzing the set, winning without dropping a game.
Both teams agreed not to contest the final reverse singles — the first such instance since the 2006 match between Australia and Great Britain in Melbourne. The 3-1 scoreline meant that America had won a rubber in a final for the first time since since Newport in 1994 — their last appearance in a final had been a whitewash to Great Britain in Manchester in 2004. It extends their Bathurst Cup drought to 53 years, with their last victory coming in 1973 in New York.
Match results:
Australia Men def France Men 4-1:
11:30 AM (2nd singles): Rhys Williams (AUS) lost to Clément Depreeuw (FRA) 5/6 6/4 5/6
1:00 PM (1st singles): Paul Rosedale (AUS) def Jean-Baptiste Rossi (FRA) 6/5 6/4
Great Britain Men def USA Men 3-1:
2:30 PM (1 vs 2 reverse singles): Robert Shenkman (GBR) def Noah Motz (USA) 6/1 6/2 6/0
4:00 PM (2 vs 1 reverse singles): Benedict Yorston (GBR) vs Freddie Bristowe (USA) not contested.
