Long, Smart retire from Champions Trophy quarter-finals
Howell, Lumley straight through to semis; Taylor-Matthews, Smart to face repechage against Shenkman, Sayers
Darren Long and Leon Smart have both retired from their quarter-final matches at the Champions Trophy with injuries at the Royal Tennis Court at Hampton Court Palace on Thursday, while Bertie Vallat impressed in his loss to Robert Shenkman.
The main draw kicked off with fifth seed Bryn Sayers taking on qualifier Darren Long, who had earned his progression in the last match of the previous day. Sayers was the slower starter, taking a few games to get his movement underway. Long was still finding a good length on his railroad, but Sayers was proficient at hitting a thin boast towards the dedans. At 3-2 in the first set, Long tweaked his left knee in a full stretch lunge, recoiling in pain. He hobbled around a few more games but, sadly, had to retire the match before the end of the first set.
The two remaining amateurs in the draw, Robert Shenkman and Bertie Vallat, took to the court next. They very quickly descended into a series of lengthy cat-and-mouse backhand exchanges, both patiently waiting until the other made a slight inaccuracy before pouncing at a target. Vallat in particular was excellent in hitting the grille, constantly hitting the sponsors logo in the middle. He established himself a 4-1 lead in the first set before Shenkman was able to work his way back into the match following an untimely double fault. He brought it back to 5-4 before Vallat lifted the level again, hitting the ball clean and nervelessly defending several set points. Vallat had an opportunity to take it to 5-all by defending a better than 2 chase. However, after a long rally, Vallat went to leave the ball, only for it to fall at worse than 1. Instead, Shenkman won the next couple of points and the first set.
The second set was no less competitive than the first. Vallat didn’t drop his level after the loss of the first, still able to battle shot for shot with Shenkman. He was willing to play his shots as well when offered, though Shenkman was excellent at adjusting to the balls that were missing the tambour. Vallat edged a narrow lead, but Shenkman recovered to 4-all. The players then took a short break as Royal Tennis Court head professional Nick Wood came on to mop up the dust caused by repeated chipping of the wall under the winning gallery. Shenkman then put the hammer down for the last two games, letting out a big shout when he crossed the finish line.
The first quarter-final that had a potential repechage for the loser was between first seed John Lumley and fourth seed Leon Smart. Smart was the first player of the week to opt for a high serving strategy and immediately found success in pinning Lumley against the back wall. Smart was able to keep the restes short as well, not allowing Lumley to get into the fast paced rhythm he prefers. Smart built a small lead, but Lumley turned it around with a trio of grilles. Smart then received a warning from the marker Jack Josephs for his reflections on a tight, short chase call. Lumley was on a run of three straight games before Smart found a few volley return of serves straight into the dedans to send the match into a deciding game and winning it to love.
The players took an extended break at the end of the set. When they resumed, their back and forth battle resumed, exchanging games through the early phase of the set. Smart remained still in control of the rallies from the serve, hitting an unreturnable length on his high serve. Once Lumley got past the first few exchanges, he was able to make his presence felt in open play. With the set evenly poised at 3-all, Lumley served a demi-pique that just missed the penthouse on the way down. Smart had to readjust quickly to react, stepping in and trying to boast the ball off the high side wall. In doing so, Smart reaggravated his long term shoulder injury. From that moment on, he was not able to get any power in his shots, hitting back-to-back double faults and was unwilling to chase balls into the corners. After querying the marker as to whether a retirement allowed him to continue on the next day, Smart decided to call it quits as soon as he had conceded the second set.
Nick Howell began his Champions Trophy defence with a rematch of the previous year’s final against Ben Taylor-Matthews. Taylor-Matthews had the stronger start, winning the first four games on the back of his consistent strokeplay. But Howell’s power game was able to knock his opponent out of kilter, especially with a trio of consecutive dedans as he won twelve straight games including both sets. By the end of the match, Taylor-Matthews’ mind had clearly moved onto his repechage matches, as he cycled through a number of different plans and tactics. Howell was belligerent on his way to the finish line.
Lumley and Howell will receive byes through to the semi-finals on Saturday, while the remaining players play off in the second round of quarter-finals on Friday. A limited number of tickets are still available via this link.
Match results:
2:30 PM: Bryn Sayers (6) def Darren Long 5/2 ret.
4:15 PM: Robert Shenkman (5) def Bertie Vallat 6/4 6/4
6:00 PM: John Lumley (1) def Leon Smart (4) 5/6 6/3 ret.
7:15 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (3) lost to Nick Howell (2) 4/6 0/6
Order of play for Friday (all times BST):
4:45 PM: Leon Smart (4) vs Bryn Sayers (6)
6:00 PM: Robert Shenkman (5) vs Ben Taylor-Matthews (3)
John Lumley (1) and Nick Howell (2) receive a bye to the semi-finals on Saturday