Pridmore secures victory over Vallat in crucial Bathurst Cup semi-final rubber
USA lead France 2-0 despite Depreeuw heroics
Great Britain and Australia are tied at one rubber following the first day’s play at the Bathurst Cup in Paris on Monday, with Oliver Pridmore securing a must-win victory over Bertie Vallat in four sets. Meanwhile, the USA are one rubber away from a place in the final, defeating France in both of their singles matches despite second seed Noah Motz unexpectedly dropping the first set to Clément Depreeuw.
The tournament began with the hosts, France, playing the second seeds, the USA. The first match was between the first-string players, with the French Raquette d’Or champion Jean-Baptiste Rossi taking on the American Amateur Champion Freddie Bristowe. It was to be Rossi’s first outing on the international stage, meaning Bristowe had to quickly find a way to adapt to Rossi’s unconventional style, playing forehands on both sides of his body with a round-arm technique. Serving with both hands as well, Rossi posed a threat with every ball on the bouncy Parisian court. Bristowe concentrated on playing traditional real tennis strokes, reining in his aggressive rackets instinct. In particular, his railroad was a great asset, getting the ball to bite and spin aggressively, pulling Rossi out of position. Bristowe raced to a five-game lead in the first set, before stalling out in the Parisian heat. Rossi was able to fight back for three games, battling for every ball and hitting his targets well, while Bristowe was perhaps too conservative.
Bristowe reestablished control by the second set, stepping up his target hitting from both ends of the court. He also realised that Rossi’s style didn’t permit him to hit many outright winners, allowing Bristowe to rally it out before receiving a free ball he could hit at a target. As the second and third sets wore on, the match increasingly became a procession for Bristowe.
The second-string singles match saw Noah Motz — playing outside America for the first time since the 2019 Clothier Cup — take on France’s Clément Depreeuw. Motz’s approach to the unfamiliar court was to not bother with figuring out how the bounce and balls worked, instead launching everything he could at the dedans. For the most part, it worked from the hazard end, but whenever he was at the service end he was forced into playing more conventional restes. Depreeuw knew he needed to dig in and wait for the inevitable loose balls, occasionally putting his racket between the ball and the dedans in whatever way he could. Motz held a two-game lead through the first set, but his wild shots let him down against the ever-consistent Depreeuw. Depreeuw took the last four games to take the first set, leaving Motz to question his decision-making while receiving a verbal beating from his coach from the winning gallery.
Motz, still struggling to read the court, decided to let his natural talent do the talking for the second set. He backed himself to get out of difficult situations or court misreads with his quick hands and fast feet. For Depreeuw, consistency was no longer enough, and his lack of powerful offensive weapons did him a disservice against a still-loose Motz. Motz powered on, breaking away midway through the set and pushing on until he had levelled up the match.
By the third set, Motz’s straight forcing had become a notable highlight, even if it did get closer and closer to tagging Depreeuw. But he also was now able to add enough variety to his play to wrestle full control of the proceedings. He wrapped up the third easily with a long run of games, but by the fourth, things started to slow down again. The heat and the French-language marking didn’t do favours for Motz, leaving him often disorientated or lackadaisical. He let Depreeuw fight the fourth set deep, pounding balls down the centre in the hope that Depreeuw would miss. Depreeuw saved two match points in the 3/5 game and another three in the 4/5 game, before finally Motz hit the dedans one last time to secure an American victory.
The second semi-final was between Team Australia and Team Great Britain. Unlike the first fixture, the matches played were the reverse singles — the second seed for each team playing the first seed of the other team. The fact that the two protagonists, Australia’s Oliver Pridmore and Britain’s Bertie Vallat, were separated by half a handicap point presented Britain with an excellent opportunity to stamp their authority on the fixture from the first rubber. Pridmore was determined not to let that happen, teeing off from the start and blasting the ball all over the court. He didn’t mind if he sprayed a few, as he backed himself to be quick enough to cover any attempted winner Vallat played from a loose ball. Importantly, Pridmore suckered Vallat into playing hyper-aggressively as well, a departure from his natural style. Vallat was blown off court in the first set, which Pridmore easily secured, dropping just one game.
Vallat changed tack for the second set. He concentrated on his set pieces — serves and returns — and tried to pull Pridmore into backhand-to-backhand rallies. It was effective in neutralising the biggest of Pridmore’s extravagant shots. Vallat’s calm and patient play saw him lead the set from start to finish, even chucking in a few good, positive forces at the dedans for good measure.
The first four games of the third set were tight deuce games, with Pridmore grabbing a narrow advantage as a result. He moderated his strokeplay without becoming too passive. Vallat tried to rein in Pridmore’s excesses by pulling him into the tempered restes that had been the theme of the second set. But Pridmore wasn’t interested, backing himself to hit enough outright winners to stay ahead of the play. He successfully found the grille on a regular basis, putting him a set in the lead once more.
The match turned again for the fourth set, with Pridmore’s attacking game going through the motions rather than having any serious intent. Meanwhile, Vallat’s game was purposeful, pressing out to a three game lead. Pridmore clawed back all three with some excellent return of serve volley drives at the dedans, hitting both sides of the back netting. From the service end, his attacking of the tambour was incessant, eventually drawing the error from Vallat no matter how good the Brit was on the volley. Pridmore won the last five games to draw first blood in the fixture for Australia.
The final match of the evening saw Britain’s first seed Robert Shenkman play Australia’s second seed Michael Williams. Williams wasn’t interested in playing Shenkman’s tactical and positional rallies, instead blasting the ball at the dedans at every opportunity he got. Even with Shenkman’s usually strong defensive volley holding, Williams was able to generate enough pace such that Shenkman couldn’t get near it. It was a potent enough weapon that Shenkman had to restrict his ball placement, avoiding attacking shots of his own. Williams kept Shenkman in check all the way through the set, reaching a 5-all deciding game for the first time in the tournament. Shenkman opened the deciding game with two last gallery chases, winning both but conceding the service end again to a pair of Williams back wall drives. Shenkman beat one with a gallery, then secured the set moments later with a main wall dedans, screaming a big roar at the tambour in celebration.
The regularity and potency of the Williams attack continued to trouble Shenkman through the second set, making him retreat into the defensive game he had worked so hard to break free from in the last few seasons. Yet slowly, Shenkman wore Williams down. It wasn’t backed by extravagant strokeplay or counter-attacking flair, instead, Shenkman showed discipline and purpose. By the end of the set, Williams was unravelling, playing shots by desparation, not calculation. Williams didn’t have anything left in the tank for the third set, with Shenkman cruising to victory and evening up the fixture with three rubbers still to play.
Play continues on Tuesday with the doubles fixtures of each of the semi-finals, alongside the first four singles rubbers of the women’s Bathurst Cup.
Match results:
USA Men leads France Men 2-0:
2:00 PM (1st singles): Freddie Bristowe (USA) def Jean-Baptiste Rossi (FRA) 6/3 6/0 6/0
4:00 PM (2nd singles): Noah Motz (USA) def Clément Depreeuw (FRA) 4/6 6/2 6/2 6/4
GB Men level with Australia Men at 1-1:
6:00 PM (2 vs 1 reverse singles): Bertie Vallat (GBR) lost to Oliver Pridmore (AUS) 1/6 6/2 2/6 4/6
8:00 PM (1 vs 2 reverse singles): Robert Shenkman (GBR) def Michael Williams (AUS) 6/5 6/2 6/0
Order of play for Tuesday (all times CEST):
11:00 AM: Georgie Willis (GBR) vs Emma Clyde (ROW)
12:30 PM: Tara Lumley (GBR) vs Saskia Bollerman (ROW)
2:00 PM: Freddie Bristowe & Noah Motz (USA) vs Nicolas Victoir & Michel Brunoro (FRA)
4:00 PM: Katherine Carney (GBR) vs Jo See Tan (ROW)
5:30 PM: Jess Garside (GBR) vs Frederika Adam (ROW)
7:00 PM: Robert Shenkman & Will Flynn (GBR) vs Oliver Pridmore & Michael Williams (AUS)