Lumley and Virgona sweep first day of World Doubles Championship semis as Fahey and Howell rue missed chances
Chisholm and Riviere drop third set to Sayers and Taylor-Matthews
Tim Chisholm and Camden Riviere have taken a strong lead after the first day of the semi-finals of the World Doubles Championships at Moreton Morrell on Wednesday, despite Bryn Sayers and Ben Taylor-Matthews battling hard to nab the third set in a repeat of the scoreline from the previous edition. Meanwhile, Steve Virgona and John Lumley have taken all four sets on offer in their match against Rob Fahey and Nick Howell, despite some stiff resistance throughout.
The World Championship’s return to the UK for the first time in nine years was the third running with the new, slimmed down format, with the draw limited to four pairs. Each edition under the new format has featured the same semi-final matchups, and this was no exception, with John Lumley and Steve Virgona lining up against Nick Howell and Rob Fahey in the opening match. The matches were best of nine sets, with the first four sets playing out on the first day.
The players had an extended warm-up, letting the crowd build in anticipation before the match began, with Fahey serving to Lumley. Fahey and Howell set up with Fahey pushing up to the galleries, reversing their roles from previous editions. Despite his pedigree, Fahey wasn’t able to dominate the play as others are able to in that position, with Virgona and Lumley looking to test Howell’s forehand volley as much as possible. Virgona had plenty of variety on his serve too, sending in left-handed railroads from up at the second gallery line. The set was even as the players felt their way into the match; the tactical battles saw the initiative seesaw between the pairs with the majority of points being won from the hazard end. Fahey and Howell had a 4/3 lead but saw several game points go begging, unable to convert any in order to win a fifth game. Virgona stepped up in intensity, leading the charge as they won four games on the bounce, taking a one set lead in the process.
By now, Lumley was able to fully absorb the play at the back of the service court, no matter how much Fahey and Howell were throwing at him. It gave Virgona the freedom to push up the court to pick which balls he was best placed to intercept, making his presence felt with every touch. Fahey was struggling to find an effective serve, testing out caterpillars and giraffes but couldn’t find a consistent length. The second set quickly slipped away from Fahey and Howell, with Virgona and Lumley hardly making an error in the set. Two of Fahey and Howell’s three games came at a point where the winner of the set was already beyond serious doubt.
Howell switched to take Lumley’s serve in the third set. Virgona was in the middle of a slight fallow patch, erring with the length of his volleys and allowing Howell and Fahey the opportunity to strike. They were just starting to get a foothold back in the match until Virgona and Lumley started really testing Howell’s dedans defence. He had to withstand shot after shot without a let-up as Virgona and Lumley kept everything off the penthouse. When they did break through, Howell tossed his racket over his head, seemingly at a loss as to what more he had to do to win such a rally. Virgona and Lumley held a slight edge in the set, with Howell and Fahey having to fight for every point to stay within touching distance. It was clear they knew how valuable each point was, throwing their heads back in frustration after every error. Their last hopes came in the 5/3 game, where they finally succumbed after seeing six deuces come and go, giving up the set as Fahey struck a volley into the net.
Lumley switched back into Fahey’s serve for the final set of the day. Lumley and Virgona knew they were in the ascendancy, and started to push as hard as they could for the finish line. Lumley opened up his role, no longer needing to simply absorb the pressure and instead able to press for winners as well. Playing alongside a fully dialled-in Virgona, they broke the backs of Howell and Fahey. Only once in the set were Howell and Fahey even able to reach deuce, let alone win a game. Virgona and Lumley finished the day’s play in a strong position, needing to find just one more set on the second day to reach the final.
The evening match saw the incumbent World Champions, Camden Riviere and Tim Chisholm, begin their title defence against Ben Taylor-Matthews and Bryn Sayers. Taylor-Matthews and Sayers opted to receive in order to put Sayers onto Riviere’s serve, a ploy to temper Riviere’s domination of the play from the return. Even so, both players struggled to find the pinpoint precision on their serves required to trouble players of the calibre of Riviere and Chisholm. Chisholm was picking off Taylor-Matthews’s railroad on the volley with ease, while Sayers couldn’t find his mark with the high serve. They found themselves immediately under pressure on the return, with Riviere and Chisholm then able to own the rest of the reste. With their unforced error count barely ticking over, they took the first set with ease.
Despite the result in the first set, Taylor-Matthews kept receiving from Chisholm in the second. Here, Sayers brought out a new tactical innovation: serving left-handed railroads at Riviere despite having a perfectly functional right-handed railroad in his locker. It didn’t immediately prove successful, yet he persisted with it, trying to shake up the pattern of play. Yet it was at the service end where the incumbents were most dominant, with Riviere dancing around the court in sync with Chisholm leaving Taylor-Matthews and Sayers searching to try and find a way of producing points. Again, they only found two games in the set, and a whitewash was seemingly on the cards.
Sayers opted to take Chisholm’s serve for the third set to try and pry an opening, leaving Taylor-Matthews to have to battle through Riviere. Chisholm and Riviere held a 4/2 30-0 lead in the set. But the defending champions started to spray their shots, giving the Brits an opening. Their solid defence against Riviere’s outstanding retrieval allowed them to pick their moment to send a tough ball to Chisholm or into a gallery. They kept fighting until they found themselves in the tournament’s first deciding game. Sayers landed several, tight, second-serve bobbles that had Chisholm spooning the ball back down the middle to set up three set points. Taylor-Matthews then finished the job, playing a thin forehand that found its way into the winning gallery, much to the enjoyment of the Leamington contingent in the crowd that had travelled down the road to see their former to play.
Chisholm and Riviere switched back to the original setup for the final set of the day, with Chisholm taking Taylor-Matthews’s serve. The loss of the set and the feeling of the crowd against him lit a fire in Riviere, rattling off three games in quick succession before the Brits could reestablish their rhythm. Chisholm supported well but Riviere was intent on taking them all on himself, no matter if he was playing at the front or back of the court. They pushed out to a 5/1 lead for their first set point, but Sayers and Taylor-Matthews kept fighting, pulling back another couple games before the Americans could finally finish it off. They ended the day needing to find two more sets to take the match.
Play continues on Thursday, with each match resuming until one pair reaches five sets. A rest day will follow on Friday with the final to take place on the weekend.
Match results:
Robert Fahey & Nick Howell (3) trail John Lumley & Steve Virgona (2)
Day 1: 4/6 3/6 3/6 0/6
Camden Riviere & Tim Chisholm (1) lead Ben Taylor-Matthews & Bryn Sayers (4)
Day 1: 6/2 6/2 5/6 6/3