Lewis Williams and Claire Fahey in back-and-forth epic at Australian Open
Baudouin Huynh-Lenhardt proved his worth against Rob Fahey
The 2025 Real Tennis Australian Open main draw began with a bang on Monday in Hobart, with five matches played in front of a full dedans and the highlight being a four-set epic between Lewis Williams and Claire Fahey. Play was largely continuous throughout the day with an engaged and enthusiastic crowd following along a number of local favourites.
John Woods-Casey had a nervy start against Jackson Pastoor, as he struggled to re-adapt to the court. He was caught out by several awkward bounces and at times let his frustration known to the audience. The home professional Pastoor composed himself well with some excellent shot-making, but could not bring down his unforced error count. The Tasmanian Open Champion used his recent international experience to recompose and thence methodically worked his way through the set. Although Pastoor had opportunities, he had a habit of finding the net during the later stage of the deuce games.
By the second set, Woods-Casey had switched to his giraffe serves, finding a very good length and troubling Pastoor on his return of serve. Pastoor, meanwhile, persisted with his railroad which fed Woods-Casey’s volley into the forehand corner. Woods-Casey dominated throughout, winning the set in 19 minutes. Woods-Casey let up a little at the start of the third, allowing Pastoor to build a small lead. That lead was very clinically shut down as Woods-Casey as he pinned Pastoor to the receiver’s end.
In the second match of the morning session, Kieran Booth was clinical in working over qualifier Darcy Webster-Jones. From the sevice end, Booth served almost exclusively railroads, moving on to patrol the court around the chase 6 line and not let anything past him onto the back wall. From the hazard end, he crunched the ball to the dedans at any opportunity, hardly letting a ball onto the back penthouse. Webster-Jones cycled through his bag of tricks to no avail, as Booth’s attacking strokeplay was far superior for the young player’s defences.
The afternoon session saw the dedans fill up with members eager to see their favourite son one more time. Rob Fahey blitzed through the first set, showing a wide serving variety and recalling his world-beating cut-volley. However his opponent, French debutant Baudouin Huynh-Lenhardt showed glimpses of what he had to offer with some great dead-weight volleys beating Fahey into the corners. By the second set, though, Fahey started to get into a little bit of trouble. Huynh-Lenhardt was able to use a combination of deception and length to beat Fahey as he was hesitant to change direction in his movement. The Frenchman had opportunities for a 4-2 lead, but Fahey pulled out some unplayable cut-volleys to recover his way into the set. By the end the crowd were enterained by some outlandish and unlikely rallies and bounces.
Fahey was in control at the start of the third, until Huynh-Lenhardt started chasing down and forcing Fahey’s railroad at the main wall. Fahey struggled to read the square bounce at times from the main wall, second guessing his previously belligerent serving. Fahey had points for a 4-1 lead, but Huynh-Lenhardt brought his way back into the set, taking a 4-3 lead of his own as Fahey’s shot quality deteriorated. But Fahey proved it is very difficult to hold a champion down, holding on through the last three games to take the match.
The fourth match of the day brought with it the day’s largest and most vocal crowd, supporting their local favourite Nick Stenning against World Champion Camden Riviere. Although the difference in handicap was the largest of the draw, that did not stop the crowd cheering loudly for every point Stenning won. Riviere was content patting the ball to the corners like a cat playing with its prey. Ultimately the crowd were entertained by the combination of Riviere’s skill and Stenning’s guile, even if the winner was never in doubt.
Claire Fahey and Lewis Williams began their match with a tight exchange of games through the first half of the first set as neither player seemed to gather much momentum. Both players were largely playing for length although via rather different methodologies. Fahey opted for softely weighted shots with plenty of side-spin curling the ball into the corners, while Williams was happy to boast with the ball biting off the walls. While there was hardly a point between them, Fahey had the run of the last three games to take the set.
Over the course of the second set, Williams seemed to get on top of Fahey. He mixed up his return of serve for pace after Fahey abandoned her side-wall serve. He also found his range on his force as Fahey struggled for consistency in her shot-making. Coupled with a few inventive shots like a back wall boast off the tambour and the set was Williams’s for the taking. Fahey broke through the rot in the third game of the third set, before the players exchanged games throughout the remainder of the set. Both players were hitting incredible lengths from difficult balls to beat chases. The hazard end became the place to be as the small size of the grille didn’t allow the server a way out of the long rallies. Williams won the 5-all game on the first time of asking with a force aimed at the top corner of the dedans which Fahey parried away unsuccessfully.
The fourth set was equally as close, with both players now all-in. Multiple times in the set the ball would fly unpredictably off ledges, with the advantage going to the player with the better reflexes. Fahey put in some more railroads for the first time in the match with some success. But just as the last time the two met in an Open, Williams was able to find repeated dedans when attacking short chases. No player was making errors, and the tennis was the highest quality of the day. Williams broke a couple of games from 3-all to 5-3. Fahey looked to be coming back until she conceded the first match point with an untimely double fault. Williams would take two attempts to get there but ultimately registered his first Open win in less than 5 sets.
Play continues with the remainder of the first round matches on Tuesday. Play will conclude early due to the club’s 150th anniversary reception at Government House in the evening, hosted by the Governor of Tasmania and former Open winner Barbara Baker.
Match results:
Jackson Pastoor lost to John Woods-Casey (7) 2/6 2/6 3/6
Darcy Webster-Jones lost to Kieran Booth (6) 1/6 1/6 0/6
Baudouin Huynh-Lenhardt lost to Rob Fahey (3) 0/6 3/6 4/6
Camden Riviere (1) def Nick Stenning 6/0 6/0 6/0
Lewis Williams (6) def Claire Fahey 3/6 6/2 6/5 6/4
Order of play for Tuesday 7th January (all times AEDT):
10am: Chris Chapman (5) vs Lea Van Der Zwalmen
Followed by:Oliver Pridmore (8) vs Tony Blom
Not before 2pm: Will Flynn vs Ben Taylor-Matthews (2)