Howell sweeps Day 2 of World Championship Final Eliminator
Lumley left to lick wounds after leading Day 1 in Aiken
Nick Howell has become just the third player in at least 30 years to sweep the second day of a World Championship Eliminator or Final having lost or tied the first, overcoming cramping concerns in a riveting day of real tennis in Aiken on Tuesday.
The first day of the match saw Lumley build a 3-1 lead in the race to seven sets. The Philadelphian professional was aiming to win the match overall by winning all four sets on the day and negating the need for a third. Howell needed to channel the momentum he earned late on the first day to keep his chances alive in the match.
Howell started the second day with a clear game plan. He served almost exclusively giraffe serves throughout the fifth set and even if his service accuracy was not high, he was able to follow up with a wide, tight bobble to good effect, never giving Lumley anything short. Although Lumley won the first game of the day to love, the momentum was all with Howell. The Australian showed positivity and control, pressing the ball into tough positions rather than trying to brute force his way into a target. As such, Lumley was often on the defensive, unable to wrestle the advantage of the rallies into his favour. From the start, Howell was able to rally the crowd to his side with repeated fist pumps and crowd acknowledgements, bringing the patrons into the match as they found more voice than at any other point in this cycle’s eliminators. Howell rode the wave to win the set, thereby guaranteeing the match would continue into a third day.
Lumley slowly started to find a decent counterpunch to Howell’s play as the games became more and more competitive through the sixth set. Of particular note was the fifth game of the set, which saw some of the best rallies of the match to date with both players battling through a long deuce exchange. Howell sensed an opportunity to even up the match score, while Lumley was battling to build back on the scoreboard on Day 2. Despite losing the game, Lumley was now the most in control of the play all day, moving Howell from side to side as he had on the first day. But by that point, Howell already had a decent scoreboard advantage in the set. The home professional brought up his first set point when playing a hazard second gallery chase chasing down a high back wall force from Lumley on the volley, before crafting the ball into the winning gallery and letting out a massive celebration. Another big celebration would follow a point later, with the match now even at 3-all.
The contest was well and truly on for the seventh set. For the first time in the match, the players were exchanging games, with neither establishing a lead. Each point was proving critical, with both players more eagerly searching for winners rather than letting the play devolve into longer rallies. The break eventually fell to Howell, winning the seventh and eighth games by beating short chases, first with a force and thence with a cut-volley with both inducing errors from Lumley. It didn’t last long, as Lumley brought the set back to 5-all with a long run from the service end. The deciding game was nervy at both ends of the court, with both players trying to shut down the rallies as quickly as possible. Ultimately, Howell served a perfect giraffe on his first set point, which Lumley could do little with but slam into the base of the net.
The eighth set saw the day heading deep into its third hour, and any pretense of pushing the ball around into long rallies was distant in the rear-view mirror. Howell was clearly back on top, able to pivot back to his preferred strategy of blazing targets with Lumley increasingly unable to respond. The home crowd was pushing Howell to the finish line, as he quickly stretched out a seemingly unassailable lead. However, at 5-1 in the set, Howell appeared to be suffering cramping in his legs. Lumley noticed and lifted his game, pushing Howell from side to side again until he was unable to run any more, conceding two games in the process. Howell was visibly limping as he took an injury time-out to stretch out. On his return, he was able to muscle his way through the final game, raising both of his arms as though he were on a cross when he hit the final point of the day.
Howell’s rare feat of sweeping the second day after trailing or tying the first has been seen just twice before in the last thirty years, most recently at the 2018 World Championship Final between Robert Fahey and Camden Riviere which propelled Fahey to recover his title. Back in 1998, Julian Snow ran up the score against a tiring Mike Gooding on his way to a 7-2 victory in the Final Eliminator, having tied the first day at 2-all.
Howell just needs two more sets when play resumes on Thursday in order to qualify for the World Championship Challenge. Lumley now faces an uphill climb, needing to win four of five sets on the final day.
Match results:
John Lumley trails Nick Howell 3-5 in the best of 13 set match:
Day 1: 6/1 6/5 6/0 3/6
Day 2: 2/6 4/6 5/6 3/6