John Lumley has set up a French Open final showdown against Camden Riviere, having won his semi-final against Ben Taylor-Matthews in four sets in Paris on Thursday. Meanwhile, the women’s draw kicked off with Amy Wintersteen taking victory over Claire Voegele in three sets.
The women’s French Open draw began in the early afternoon with a match between the American pair of Amy Wintersteen and Claire Voegele. Evenly matched, the fate of the match was to be determined by who could control the service end as each was able to work the other around the stroke area at the hazard end. Chases were key, often coming as hazards or long chases from lower-paced shots gliding over the net. The players exchanged games through the first half of the first set before a sequence of aces put Wintersteen ahead. Wintersteen had set point and chase 3 in the 5/3 game but Voegele lofted one into the top corner of the dedans. Voegele then extracted some volley errors from Wintersteen to send the set into a deciding game instead. Voegele increased the pace of her shots for the last game, winning it and the set.
By the second set, Voegele was starting to get on top of Wintersteen’s serve, but Wintersteen was having the better fortune in the rallies. Again, they exchanged games for the first half of the set before Wintersteen again broke ahead to 5/3. This time she was able to hold on, winning it with a pair of aces off slow overhead serves that Voegele misread off the penthouse. Wintersteen kept her form going into the third set, reading the court better and nailing her placement as she took the first four games of the set.
The men’s semi-final followed with the World Champion, Camden Riviere, taking on the defending French Open champion, Steve Virgona. Virgona opted for a high pace of play, trying to hit the ball through Riviere. But more often than not, the ball sat up off the back wall with enough time for Riviere to run it down. Virgona tried to work the rally into his forehand, but Riviere was more than matched to the task. The World Champion played his variations in pace to perfection, hitting hard and flat for the targets when necessary, but also taking pace out of the ball to land it on the base of the tambour or to get behind Virgona’s backhand. His read of the ball was excellent as well, fully in tune with the court, reading the bounce every time as he turned on balls behind him. He was also on top of Virgona’s railroad, boasting the ball cross-court and winning short chases from Virgona’s backhand. Virgona only took one game in the match — the ninth — as Riviere worked his way to victory in a little over an hour.
The other semi-final was between second seed John Lumley and fourth seed Ben Taylor-Matthews, each seeking their first French Open title. Though Taylor-Matthews won the first game, Lumley settled into the match sooner. He was hitting targets with ease from any ball in open space, punishing any inaccuracy from his opponent. He also picked off Taylor-Matthews’s railroad serve with ease, making it difficult for the Westwood professional to get into the rally. Taylor-Matthews tried other options at times, but Lumley was quick to shut it down, making Taylor-Matthews fall back to his railroad. From the service end, Lumley was following the textbook structure for each reste, executing it without error. Lumley won five straight games to go 5/1 up before Taylor-Matthews pulled back a couple of games. Unfortunately for Taylor-Matthews, it couldn’t last, with Lumley taking the first set.
The rallies became more dynamic in the second set, as Taylor-Matthews extended out the play. But Lumley was able to pick balls off the tambour with ease and direct the ball into wherever Taylor-Matthews wasn’t. Taylor-Matthews tried serving his railroad from more centred in the court but the extra arc on the ball led Lumley to cut-volley to short chases instead of forcing for the dedans. Taylor-Matthews won an early game, but Lumley was still in control, going to a two-set lead.
At 3/1 to Lumley in the third set, it seemed that the match would shortly be wrapped up. But Lumley started to lose his focus, putting more balls onto the penthouse and missing his shots at the grille. Taylor-Matthews finally started getting success on his serve, and he started to string a few games together. The added pressure kept drawing more errors from Lumley, with Taylor-Matthews first pulling level and then pushing ahead. He reached a 5/3 lead, as his play kept pulling Lumley forward and out of position only to wrap the ball behind him sending him running back towards the dedans. Taylor-Matthews had 5 set points in that game — including one called off on chase six for a ball that rolled out of the back wall nick — eventually winning the set as Lumley found the high part of the net.
Going into the fourth set, Lumley refound his concentration after a five-deuce battle in the fourth game. He came out on top by hitting his targets once again and was able to push on for victory. He quickly found himself 5/1 up, dropping just one further game before securing victory and setting up a final showdown against Riviere.
Play continues on Friday with the men’s doubles semi-finals as well as both the single and doubles women’s semi-finals.
Match results:
1:00 PM: Amy Wintersteen def Claire Voegele 5/6 6/4 6/1
4:00 PM: Camden Riviere (1) def Steve Virgona (3) 6/0 6/1 6/0
7:00 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) lost to John Lumley (2) 3/6 1/6 6/3 2/6
Order of play for Friday (all times CEST):
10:00 AM: Claire Fahey (1) vs Amy Wintersteen
11:30 AM: Kadi Meldrum vs Sarah Vigrass (2)
1:00 PM: John Lumley & Camden Riviere (1) vs Bryn Sayers & Ben Taylor-Matthews (3)
4:00 PM: Robert Shenkman & Vaughan Hamilton (4) vs Steve Virgona & Robert Fahey (2)
7:00 PM: Amy Wintersteen & Grace Beglan vs Kadi Meldrum & Claire Voegele