Hamilton pushes to Howell to five for second time in season as US Open main draw begins
Riviere, Virgona and Shenkman cruise into quarter-finals
The main draw of the US Open has officially kicked off at the Racquet Club of Chicago, with the match of the day featuring Vaughan Hamilton taking Nick Howell to a fifth set for the second time this season, while Steve Virgona, Camden Riviere and Robert Shenkman all secured straight sets victories.
Camden Riviere’s campaign to recover his US Open title began in the first match of the main draw, where he faced off against Moreton Morrell’s Darren Long. Even though Long won the first game of the match with a series of main wall dedans, Riviere quickly established the now-familiar rhythm of his matches, exhibiting his extreme control and variations in pace and spin. His target hitting was exceptional, rarely missing any shot he took on, and was able to take it on from anywhere on the court — including very nearly a grille on a pique serve. Additionally, Riviere’s turn on the return of serve was unplayable, holding as late as he could and not revealing what side he was hitting to. As has been the case for so many before him, Long could not find many tactical innovations that troubled Riviere. His best option was a short underarm twist clipping the side wall, putting Riviere onto a volley return that gave Long options at the tambour. However, all involved could foresee the final result of the match a mile off, and by the end both were somewhat going through the motions.
The second match was between Robert Shenkman and Nino Merola, a repeat of the same fixture in the previous edition in Westwood. Merola was out to play his shots, but struggled to find an execution that really troubled Shenkman. The amateur champion calmly stepped across and played every ball, not just pushing it around but fizzing it about, making life extremely difficult for Merola. Merola went searching through his bag of tactics to try and find something that would work but kept drawing blanks. Shenkman’s control and touch showed that he didn’t need to just hit targets to win points — a relatively new innovation to his game. He played some balls as soft touch into the forehand and others driving for the back wall nick. Shenkman dropped just two games in the match, easing his way into a date with Riviere in the quarter-finals.
The evening session saw home professional Steve Virgona play qualifier Henry Henman. Henman was unafraid to take the game on, but wasn’t nearly as clinical in his shot execution as Virgona. For every missed shot or inaccurate ball that Henman hit, Virgona had a kill shot. For Henman, it was a learning experience to play singles against a world-class left-hander, slowly having to relearn the relevant tactics. In the first half of the second set, Henman determined to just enjoy himself, tossing in volleys either behind-the-back or left-handed himself. Virgona wasn’t bothered, playing his own game and keeping up the intensity.
Facing a three-game deficit in the second set, Henman began an all-out onslaught on the dedans that brought him back into the game. He also found success on his drag serve, preventing Virgona from turning on the return. He even got one to hit the ledge of the winning gallery, which was completely unplayable. Henman’s improved retrieval played against a slight drop in accuracy from Virgona’s hitting. All of a sudden, the match evened up, with the games being evenly exchanged. Virgona still had a big enough advantage to take the second set, but Henman stretched out a narrow lead in the third, before taking an injury timeout to stretch out his hamstring. After the resumption, Henman’s movement was still hampered, allowing Virgona to push on to victory.
The last match of the day saw the other qualifier, Vaughan Hamilton, take on the third seed Nick Howell. Each reste had two distinct tactical phases, firstly on whether Hamilton could constrain Howell’s cut-volley, and once he had, who would win the backhand exchange? Hamilton had to throw himself across to the forehand side after his serve to prevent the follow-up from reaching the back wall. If he managed to survive the first ball, Hamilton was even with the world number 3 in the rally exchanges. The first six games were evenly exchanged, but Hamilton was able to push through the next three to secure the first set.
Howell slowly wrestled the match to his favour in the second set. It wasn’t easy going, as Hamilton threatened a lead of his own. After hitting one floor-boasted winning gallery to the thrill of the crowd, Hamilton tried to hit the same shot again on the very next ball, only to miss and have Howell lob a dedans over his head. Hamilton’s play in general was less precise, giving Howell the option to force onto Hamilton’s double-handed backhand volley, drawing plenty of errors. Howell evened up the match at 1-all, despite a late fight-back from Hamilton.
In the third, Howell entered another fallow patch, unable to command the rally from the serve as much as he would have preferred. In trying to recover his groove, he tried blasting balls at the dedans, but ended up spraying the penthouse more often than not. Hamilton was there to lap up the mess, looking by far the stronger player in general play. He won the set easily, dropping only the second game.
The two had reached the same scoreline after three sets at the same round in the French Open earlier in the season. On that occasion, Howell ramped up his play on the back of his target hitting, dominating the last two sets. This match threatened to move in the same direction, as Hamilton was growing visibly frustrated with the shots he was missing, at one point slamming his racket into the ground, with the marker telling Howell off for trying to goad him into giving Hamilton a warning. As in Paris, Howell dominated the last two sets, moving more freely and taking advantage of Hamilton’s implosion. The Prested professional missed a few key chances midway through each set as Howell secured his place in the quarter-finals.
Play continues on Thursday with the remaining four first round singles matches, with the first round doubles matches beginning on Friday.
Match results
12:00 PM: Camden Riviere (1) def Darren Long 6/1 6/2 6/3
1:30 PM: Nino Merola lost to Robert Shenkman (7) 1/6 0/6 1/6
5:00 PM: Steve Virgona (5) def Henry Henman (Q) 6/1 6/4 6/4
6:30 PM: Vaughan Hamilton (Q) def Nick Howell (3) 6/3 4/6 6/1 1/6 3/6
Order of play for Thursday (all times CDT):
12:00 PM: Josh Dodgson vs John Lumley (2)
1:30 PM: Bertie Vallat vs Bryn Sayers (8)
4:00 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) vs Freddie Bristowe
5:30 PM: Leon Smart (6) vs Lewis Williams