Lumley strikes first blow of 2025 World Championship Eliminators
Former challenger wins road leg of home-and-away series against Virgona in straight sets
Fresh off his US Open victory, John Lumley has carried his form into the 2025 World Championship Eliminators with a comfortable straight-sets win over Steve Virgona in the first home-and-away leg in Chicago on Thursday evening.
As neither player submitted a bid for the hosting rights for the first round eliminator, the series was defaulted to home and away matches. As the weaker seed, the first leg was played at Virgona’s home court in Chicago, with the second and third, if required, matches being played at Lumley’s home court in Philadelphia. By contrast, both Nick Howell and Ben Taylor-Matthews bid for hosting rights of their first round eliminator, with Howell winning the right to host a best of 13 set match in Aiken.
Remarkably, Lumley had never before beaten Virgona in singles in Chicago — indeed Virgona’s only wins over Lumley since 2018 had been in the Windy City. The last 8 meetings had all gone to Lumley. It also marked Virgona’s first appearance in an eliminator match since 2018, and the first time that Lumley played in an eliminator match outside Philadelphia.
After a brief knock-up, the match began under the watchful eye of marker Rob Whitehouse, his position at the net a rarity in the modern day, let alone in America. The player’s initial tactics were immediately revealed, as Lumley attempted to slap Virgona’s side-wall serves for flat main-wall dedans. Virgona responded by zeroing in on Chicago’s sizeable grille. The Australian was animated and aggressive, playing as much as possible on his left-handed forehand and boasting plenty of balls off the main wall. Lumley soaked in all the pressure, eventually goading Virgona into making an error. Before long, the first set slipped through Virgona’s grasp, with Lumley winning through six straight games.
Going into the second set, Virgona was cycling through his serving repertoire, looking for a serve that would pin Lumley down. Lumley seemed to have enough responses to keep on top of the rally, whether it be a thick boast to around last gallery or pinning Virgona down into the corners, extracting plenty of cut. After Virgona won the first two games of the set, Lumley turned up the aggression dial until both players were slogging the ball at each other. Lumley won the next five games straight before Virgona started a big push to maintain a toehold in the match. He was moving as quick as he had all night trying to chase Lumley’s shots into the corners, pulling the set back to 4/5. But Lumley held his nerve, moving to a commanding 2-0 lead.
The match fell into a little lull at the start of the third set, and it took a while for the contours of the set to take shape. Lumley remained solid defensively, while Virgona didn’t have the same intensity as the latter stages of the second set. With Virgona resorting to a selection of high serves and giraffes, Lumley was able to apply pressure quickly into the rally, hitting a beautiful height over the net and getting the ball to dip late into the back wall. Lumley led the set from start to finish, wrapping up a comfortable straight-sets victory.
Lumley now needs to win just one of two matches at his home court in Philadelphia in a week’s time to secure a place in the Final Eliminator. Virgona, meanwhile, finds himself in a similar situation to the 2018 Final Eliminator, going on his road leg needing to win both matches. The other First Round Eliminator will commence on Tuesday with the first day of the best of 13 set match between Nick Howell and Ben Taylor-Matthews in Aiken.
Match results:
John Lumley leads Steve Virgona 1-0 in the three match series
March 20 (Chicago): 6/1 6/4 6/3
Upcoming matchdays (Check streaming links for match timings):
March 25, 27 & 29 (Aiken): Nick Howell vs Ben Taylor-Matthews (Best of 13 sets)
March 26 & 28 (Philadelphia): John Lumley vs Steve Virgona (Matches 2 and 3)
Enjoying the commentary. Thanks Ben!