Lumley overcomes Bollerman with late surge at Ladies World Championship
Lumley to play Van Der Zwalmen for right to challenge Claire Fahey for the title
World number 4 Tara Lumley has won a tough back-and-forth battle against world number 3 Saskia Bollerman in the Ladies World Championship at Newport on Tuesday, putting herself just two matches from the title.
The new format of the Ladies World Championship meant that, for the first time, the third and fourth seeds were drawn to play off for the right to progress through the draw — unlike an Open format where each would be drawn into one of the top two seeds. A match between the world numbers three and four has proven a rare occurrence over the last few years, outside of the Bathurst Cup where they both represent different teams.
Tara Lumley and Saskia Bollerman lined up against each other with the right to play Lea Van Der Zwalmen on the line. Both started fairly defensively, getting sucked into long rallies down the center of the court knowing that anything loose was liable to be punished. The most attacking shot was Bollerman’s return of serve, more often than not on the volley, but while this had the opportunity to set a short chase it was also a way of leaking points. Lumley’s consistency was rewarded with the first set, dropping just one game.
By the second set, Bollerman kicked in to gear, looking to take as many balls on the volley from the service end as possible and cutting down any risk of an unexpected bounce off the back wall. In doing so, she took time out of Lumley’s game, often catching her out of position. Bollerman won the first three games of the set before Lumley pulled back two of her own. But by now, Bollerman was consistently finding the sweet spot of her racket, with her backhand reads off the battery wall particularly impressive. With the pressure building, Lumley couldn’t find an effective means of counterattack, as Bollerman won the final three games of the set to even up the match.
Bollerman carried the momentum into the third and final set, pressing Lumley hard into the corners and waiting for the eventual error in response. But as the set wore on, her attack began to overreach with her play becoming looser, letting Lumley back in the game. Lumley’s serving was particularly tight, her demi-pique proving effective as she slowly built back from a 1-3 deficit. Her play was growing in confidence, leaning into her shots and utilising the tambour well. Lumley won the last five straight games to take the match.
Lumley will now play off against Lea Van Der Zwalmen on Wednesday for the right to challenge Claire Fahey for the World Championship on Friday.
Match results:
Tuesday 27 May:
4:00 PM: Saskia Bollerman lost to Tara Lumley 1/6 6/2 3/6
Upcoming Matches (all times EDT):
Wednesday 28 May:
5:00 PM: Lea Van Der Zwalmen vs Tara Lumley
Thursday 29 May:
2:00 PM (Doubles Semi Final 1): Claire Fahey & Tara Lumley vs Jo See Tan & Jess Garside
3:30 PM (Doubles Semi Final 2): Nicola Doble & Saskia Bollerman vs Lea Van Der Zwalmen & Margaux Randjbar
Friday 30 May:
5:00 PM (World Championship Challenge): Claire Fahey vs Challenger TBD
Saturday 31 May:
2:00 PM (World Doubles Championship Final): Winner Semi Final 1 vs Winner Semi Final 2