Record US Open draw sees old rivalries rekindled in Washington
Fahey & Van Der Zwalmen to lock horns in US Ladies Open at Philadelphia
The 2025 US Open will feature the strongest field in a generation, with 8 of the top 10 players in the world fighting for a $75,000 pot alongside a qualifying field as large as the main draw itself with a main draw cut at handicap of just 2.5. Meanwhile, the 2025 US Ladies Open will begin on the weekend with the world’s top 2 likely to do battle one last time ahead of the 2025 World Championships.
The draw for the US Open was conducted at the Westwood Country Club in Virginia on Monday by Ivan Ronaldson and Vern Peterson-Cassin. Westwood, with its court not even three years old, will see the top players in the world competing for a second time, following their successful hosting of the World Championships in 2023. It will be the first time the US Open will be held in Washington, as the previous Prince’s Court never hosted the event due to its glass main wall. The matches will take place from February 19 to March 2.
The singles draw will see many old rivalries reignited and potentially new ones form. Camden Riviere enters as the top seed, facing a likely challenge from Steve Virgona in the quarter finals. The two left-handers, who battled it out in the World Championship Eliminators several times in the early 2010s, also met in the quarter finals of last year’s British Open where a fired up Riviere overcame Virgona in 3 sets. The second and third seeds, John Lumley and Nick Howell, both sit in the bottom half of the draw to potentially meet in the semi finals. If they do, it will be a re-match of last cycle’s Final Eliminator. Howell has not bested Lumley since the 2018 British Open, so would enter that match with a point to prove that should thrill the Westwood crowd. Ben Taylor-Matthews enters as fourth seed, looking to improve on his 2024 result where he lost a quarter final to Robert Fahey.
All the top seeds will still have to defend themselves against a field that will be seeking to cause as much impact as possible. Of the early round matches, eyes are immediately drawn to see Robert Fahey playing against Tim Chisholm in the first round. It will be just the second time the two legends have paired off in singles since 2017, the other being the quarter final of the 2022 US Open at Tuxedo. The much improved Nino Merola could trouble eighth seed Robert Shenkman in their first round match, the latter being the only amateur in the main draw. The winner is seeded to play John Lumley and will be a key milepost for both of their development as elite players.
The draw has also produced rematches of last year’s first round, with Darren Long playing Nick Howell and Lewis Williams playing Steve Virgona. Both will be looking to improve on their results, with Long pushing Howell to 5 sets at the 2023 British Open. The closest first round match on handicap will be between Leon Smart and Barney Tanfield, with Smart looking to make another fantasy US Open run through Ben Taylor-Matthews to the semi final. Josh Dodgson rounds out the main draw with a tough first round match against John Lumley.
The singles qualifying draw will feature a whopping 14 players, as many as the main draw. 11 of those players will have handicaps under 10, and the best has a handicap of just 2.9 It will be the most players in qualifying since the 16 player main draw was introduced in 2019, and will be the largest field on record going back to at least 1998. The size and quality of the draw will invigorate those agitating for an increase in the main draw to 24 players, which would see the draw cut at an 8.4 handicap. Prior to the change to a 16 player draw, the event had only once seen enough players to fill a 24 player draw in 2017, where the draw had been cut at 19.5.
The fight for the first qualifier position, to play Ben Taylor-Matthews, will be cutthroat. Recently crowned Seacourt Silver Racquet winner Will Flynn will play Freddie Bristowe in the first round in a match that both will fancy themselves in. Meanwhile, Louis Gordon will play Max Trueman, the latter a dark horse having had a relatively light match program in 2024 and returning to push Nick Howell to a final game at the US National in Boston in December. The favourite for the group is John Woods-Casey, who is looking to improve on his loss to Bristowe at the final stage of qualifying in 2023.
The challenge for the second qualifier position, to play Camden Riviere, is no less competitive. Oliver Pridmore enters as the favourite, playing his debut US Open qualifying. He faces tough challengers in the likes of Vaughan Hamilton and Bertie Vallat, some of the best improvers by handicap in 2024. Not to be discounted is a match-up between the two top Westwood amateurs, Noah Motz and Erik Barker.
The doubles draw promises to be perhaps even more exciting than the singles. Ben Taylor-Matthews will be hoping that the Merola hex can strike again on Camden Riviere and Tim Chisholm, following their tight four-setter at the British Open. John Lumley and Steve Virgona will join forces again for the first time since the World Doubles Championship, with battle looming once again with Rob Fahey and Nick Howell in a potential semi final matchup.
There will be plenty of pairings looking to repeat the upset results of 2024, where Freddie Bristowe and Barney Tanfield, and Robert Shenkman and Darren Long caused upsets on their way to the semi finals. Bristowe and Tanfield again return, facing down Lumley and Virgona in the quarter final in a rematch of last year’s semi final. Shenkman and Long will return with different partners. Shenkman will play with Louis Gordon, the third tournament of their partnership together. They have a tough first round against Vaughan Hamilton and John Woods-Casey, also in their third tournament as a pair. Long, meanwhile, teams up with Lewis Williams for the first time and will be targeting Taylor-Matthews and Merola in the quarter finals. Leon Smart and Josh Dodgson round out the seeds, facing a tricky match against the established junior pair of Will Flynn and Oliver Pridmore, winners of the British U24 doubles in 2023.
There will also be three qualifying matches going into the doubles draw for two positions. The Westwood pair of Erik Barker and Noah Motz will team up as favourites to progress, facing the winner of Pete Dickinson and Henry Smith and Max Trueman and Chase Motz. The other qualifying pathway sees the unknown pairings of Adam Player and Tony Hollins playing Bertie Vallat and Danny McBride.
Before any of the Open gets played, however, fans will be treated to the US Ladies Open taking place this weekend at the Racquet Club of Philadelphia. 19 players will take part, but only 4 have a handicap below 40. The top half will likely see a match-up between Claire Fahey and Jo See Tan in the semi final, with Tan looking to do more damage than the 2024 final where she failed to win a game. The bottom half will see the Open debut of Westwood’s Annie Clark, the top ranked active American player, drawn to play a semi final against France’s Lea Van Der Zwalmen. Van Der Zwalmen enters the draw looking for her twelfth crack at Fahey, ahead of the Ladies World Championship in Newport in May. In the doubles, Fahey and Tan will team up against Van Der Zwalmen and Clark in the likely final.
Play for the US Ladies Open takes place from the 7th to 9th of February. Full draws and tournament lists can be found via the USCTA website.
Qualifying for the US Open commences on February 19th. The main draw begins on February 22nd. Full draws can also be found via the USCTA website. The drawing of names can also be seen on the USCTA YouTube Channel.
Update 5 February: an earlier version of this article stated that the US Open changed to a 16 player draw in 2022. The switch occured in 2019.
US Open Singles Draw (top to bottom):
Camden Riviere (1) vs Qualifier 2
Lewis Williams vs Steve Virgona (6)
Leon Smart (7) vs Barney Tanfield
Qualifier 1 vs Ben Taylor-Matthews (4)
Nick Howell (3) vs Darren Long
Tim Chisholm vs Robert Fahey (5)
Robert Shenkman (8) vs Nino Merola
Josh Dodgson vs John Lumley (2)
US Open Singles Qualifier 1:
John Woods Casey (1) vs BYE
Pete Dickinson vs Tony Hollins
Louis Gordon (7) vs Max Trueman
Will Flynn vs Freddie Bristowe (3)
US Open Singles Qualifier 2:
Bertie Vallat (4) vs Adam Player
Erik Barker vs Noah Motz (6)
Vaughan Hamilton (5) vs Henry Smith
BYE vs Oliver Pridmore (2)
US Open Doubles Draw:
Camden Riviere/Tim Chisholm (1) vs winner of Robert Shenkman/Louis Gordon and John Woods-Casey/Vaughan Hamilton
Winner of Lewis Williams/Darren Long (6) and Qualifier 2 vs Ben Taylor-Matthews/Nino Merola (4)
Rob Fahey/Nick Howell (3) vs winner of Will Flynn/Oliver Pridmore and Leon Smart/Josh Dodgson (5)
Winner of Barney Tanfield/Freddie Bristowe and Qualifier 1 vs John Lumley/Steve Virgona (2)
US Open Doubles Qualifier 1:
Erik Barker/Noah Motz (1) vs winner of Pete Dickinson/Henry Smith and Max Trueman/Chase Motz
Adam Player/Tony Hollins vs Bertie Vallat/Danny McBride (2)