Howell books spot in Final Eliminator after winning final two sets against Taylor-Matthews
Decider to be played in May in Aiken
Nick Howell has qualified for the Final Eliminator for the second consecutive cycle, winning the final two sets of his First Round Eliminator against Ben Taylor-Matthews at Aiken on Saturday.
Howell had managed to eek out a critical lead on day 2, after sharing the honours on the first day. He held a 5-3 lead at the start of the day, needing just two more sets to reach the Final Eliminator. Taylor-Matthews faced a much tougher climb, having to win four of the five sets on offer to progress.
Taylor-Matthews brought a new playbook to the start of day 3, serving high serves with little spin with the aim to restrict Howell’s force. It was a high variance strategy, as anything too short or too long gave Howell an excellent opening for the dedans, which he was hitting flawlessly. Once Taylor-Matthews was able to get into a rally, he was proficient at finding the grille, making the first set a tense back-and-forth affair. The crucial moment came at advantage in the 4-3 game, with Taylor-Matthews chasing down a looping ball off the back penthouse, executing what he thought would be a clean winner. But Howell dug out the ball milimeters off the floor and over for a chase, with Taylor-Matthews stranded at the front of the court — and not for the first time in the set.
Taylor-Matthews brought the set back to 5-all with his usual consistent play, before going down 40-0 in the deciding game following a trio of Howell forces. Going down the receiving end, Taylor-Matthews brought it back as far as 40-30 before a long, desparate rally with several last-ditch gets from both players. Taylor-Matthews misjudged a ball off the back wall and hit it into the net — not accounting for the extra spin picked up from Howell’s skid-boast the shot prior. Taylor-Matthews could do nothing but stare at the spot the ball had once been when it hit his racket, while Howell haunched over in relief, knowing that a spot in the Final Eliminator was within his grasp.
At the start of the eleventh set, Howell opted for an unorthodox strategy to put Taylor-Matthews off his railroad and send him back to the high serve. Howell lined up to receive serve close enough to the stroke line to be able to touch it with his racket, looking for the volley above all else. From there, he was able to strike the ball down with plenty of side spin to lay short chases in Taylor-Matthews forehand. Howell thus spent a lot of the set at the service end from where he work on growing his lead.
Taylor-Matthews refused to lay down his arms, fighting back from a 1-4 deficit in the set to 4-all by staying positive and hitting testing balls into Howell’s corners. However, fortune was on the side of Howell. When playing a last gallery chase at 40-30, Howell launched a volley high above the service penthouse. Taylor-Matthews let it go, assuming it would bounce out towards the line, but instead it bounced up into the reverse side of the second gallery partition, narrowly missing the post for a chase off to Taylor-Matthews’s visible frustration.
For the second straight set, the players found themselves in a deciding game. Taylor-Matthews had the early advantage, but Howell brought up the first match point on a worse than 1 chase with three straight forces on target, eventually sliding it past his opponent into the dedans. He went down the service end with a 1 and 2 chase in the bank. Taylor-Matthew’s force was too high. Howell dropped his racket and turned to the dedans with his arms outstretched, booking his slot in the Final Eliminator.
Howell also has won the hosting rights for the Final Eliminator for Aiken, having outbid Lumley’s preferred Philadelphia. The match is expected to be held in mid-May and will precede the Ladies World Championships in Newport. It will be an unfamiliar court for Lumley, having played just three tournaments there in the last eleven years.
Match results:
John Lumley defeated Steve Virgona 2-0 in the three match series
Match 1 (Chicago): 6/1 6/4 6/3
Match 2 (Philadelphia): 6/2 6/1 6/0
Nick Howell defeated with Ben Taylor-Matthews 7-3 in the best of 13 set match:
Day 1 (Aiken): 4/6 6/1 1/6 6/4
Day 2 (Aiken): 6/1 1/6 6/2 6/3
Day 3 (Aiken): 6/5 6/5
Great report Ben, thanks