Lumley saves 3 match points to reach US Open final after Fahey forcing masterclass
Riviere breezes past Taylor-Matthews into 15th US Open final
The US Open semi final day at the Westwood Country Club will linger long in the memory of real tennis fans, as a 56 year old Robert Fahey went toe-to-toe with the world number 2 John Lumley in a match that had more twists and turns than than a mountain pass in the Tour de France and saw one of the great displays of dedans hitting battling one of the worlds top retrievers.
Fahey and Lumley met in the first semi final of the day. The two most recent World Championship challengers had previously lined up just once since Fahey’s retirement — playing in the same fixture at the previous year’s US Open. On that occasion, Lumley had come out the winner in straight sets, and it looked like it would be repeated again during the early exchanges. Fahey was wayward in his shots, giving Lumley plenty of balls to chase down and kill.
The second set looked to be shaping up as a fascinating battle between Fahey’s high serve and Lumley’s retrieval, with the third game featuring a long and tight deuce battle. Lumley had a narrow 2-1 lead before something clicked for the 13-time World Champion. He went on a tear, ripping amazing cut volleys and smacking brilliant forces, to which Lumley had no reply. He wasn’t moving well into the corners and couldn’t find a serve to restrict Fahey. Fahey won 14 consecutive points, barring a few chases, moving from 2-all to winning the set in a matter of minutes.
Going into the third set, Fahey was compiling an encyclopaedia of every way to hit the dedans: skid boasts, straight forces, volleys, backhand drives and off the tambour. But at 2-0 down, Lumley managed to muster an effective defence, cutting off Fahey from his target hitting and working him into the corners instead. The momentum swung heavily in Lumley’s favour, with Fahey only able to win one more game in the set. Fahey challenged for the seventh and ninth games, but Lumley held firm, going to a 2-1 lead in the match .
The match kept weaving down its windy road, with its particpants unaware of the turns it still had to make. Going into the fourth set, Fahey found his range on the dedans again, digging into all his experience to keep Lumley on the back foot through a combination of deception, accuracy, pace and heavy spin. Fahey established a 4-1 lead, and before Lumley could respond, Fahey once again launched himself at the dedans, seemingly sending the ball into the back netting every other point. Lumley’s answer was to dump a few consecutive balls into the grille himself. Although Lumley’s retrieving was excellent, Fahey won the set with a flush bobble, that Lumley couldn’t boast out of trouble.
For the second time in the tournament, Fahey found himself competing for a fifth set. It was the first time since the 2015 US Professional Singles that he had played two five set matches in a tournament. It is a feat that he had only accomplished two further times in his career1 — the others being the 1993 British Professional Championship and the 1996 Laurent-Perrier Masters.
Going into the final set, the play was evenly poised again and it was unclear which way it would break. The second and third games were tense and tight, with the balance shifting in the favour of Lumley following a desparate bandeau boast that saw Fahey drop is racket on the floor in despair. Lumley’s retrieval was world class in the set, still moving around the court with ease as though they were still in the knock-up. Lumley had a chance to open up a 4-1 lead with yet another deuce battle, with several changes of ends and lengthy points before Fahey found a vein of dedans hitting again, hitting three more in the next game to level up again at 3-all.
Fahey found the grille in the first point of the seventh game, with his first audible “come on” of the match — a rarity given his usually calm demeanour. He won the game to love, giving him a 4-3 lead. Lumley would not give in though, raising his pace on his return of serves to win the next game to love. Fahey, now at the receiving end, hit everything he could at the dedans. Two went in straight away, before Lumley rallied his defenses, keeping out a dozen or so forces and eventually drawing Fahey in to a couple of errors. Lumley brought up his first match point at 5-4, chasing down a force from Fahey that was inches too wide. Fahey responded by his most emphatic main wall dedans of the day. With a game point to his name, Fahey missed the dedans by a few milimeters, with Lumley hitting the ball into hazard second gallery. Lumley beat the chase with a high back wall that Fahey didn’t bother chasing down. A better than half a yard chase later, and Fahey was back at the receivers end, striking two more gems to take it to a deciding game.
The start of the deciding game saw Fahey lay a better than 2 chase, before along rally and desparate retrieval from Lumley saw Fahey go up in the game. The next ball rolled out of the back nick with Lumley swiping over the top of it. Lumley won the next long, tense point with Fahey attacking Lumely’s backhand, only for Lumley to lob it back time and time again in desparation. Fahey then brought up match point with a force a the dedans that hit the outer edge and rolled along the dedans ledge before dropping into the tray. Changing ends with the chase, Lumley cut heavily into Fahey’s backhand, successfully saving the point. Fahey lost his second match point with a volley error, but then set up his third with a winning gallery. Lumley floated the return of serve into Fahey’s backhand, setting a better than 2 chase. Lumley’s serve was tight, with Fahey never seeing the opportunity to force. Lumley now had the advantage of the service end, bringing up his own match point with the help of the tambour. Fahey missed the dedans low, with Lumley wrapping up the match hitting the ball cross court under the winning gallery. Remarkably, it is just the second time in his career2 that Fahey has lost a match 6/5 in the fifth set, the other being in the 2006 Australian Open final against Ruaraidh Gunn.
The entirety of Westwood — and the hundreds of fans watching around the world —had to take a deep breath before the second semi final between World Champion Camden Riviere and world number 4 Ben Taylor-Matthews, the latter still searching for his first Open singles title. The two had faced off only a few months prior at the British Open, in a match played across both courts at Queen’s. Riviere was a class above yet again, able to absorb any attacking shots from Taylor-Matthews with ease. The two regularly engaged in boasting showdowns, as the Bristol professional looked to press back against the nagging play of Riviere, but Riviere would come out on top more often than not. Riviere has a way of playing that demoralises his opponents, with Taylor-Matthews looking resigned to his fate through most of the match. Taylor-Matthews won as many games as Riviere won sets across the match.
Riviere moves on to play Lumley in the final on Saturday, in a rematch of the last two US Open finals. Lumley will look to do one better than last year, where he took Riviere to a fifth set for the first time.
Match results:
4:00 pm: Robert Fahey (5) lost to John Lumley (2) 1/6 6/1 3/6 6/3 5/6
6:00 pm: Camden Riviere (1) Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) 6/1 6/0 6/2
Order of play for Friday (all times EST):
4:00 pm: Camden Riviere & Tim Chisholm (1) vs Ben Taylor-Matthews & Nino Merola (4)
6:00 pm: Robert Fahey & Nick Howell (3) vs John Lumley & Steve Virgona (2)
Where scores are available. Scores are not known for tournaments outside the UK prior to 1998.
Again, where scores are available.
Great report, Ben! What a match…