Camden Riviere has taken home the French Open singles title in Paris on Saturday by the barest of margins, winning in the final game of the final set despite a long fightback from John Lumley, who was 0-2 down after the first two sets and who also saved championship point in the fourth. Meanwhile, Claire Fahey has become the most prolific Open winner of all time, picking up her 51st title after defeating her sister, Sarah Vigrass, in the women’s final.
The women’s final pitted the two sisters against each other for the first time in a French Open. Claire Fahey entered the match as the strong favourite, seeking a 51st Open title that would put her clear of her husband Robert Fahey as the most prolific Open player of all time. Meanwhile, Sarah Vigrass was seeking her second Open title to add to her sole British Open from 2016. Fahey’s serving early was solid, her demi-piques and underarm twists restricting Vigrass to shots back down the middle of the court. Eventually, Vigrass was able to work it more towards Fahey’s backhand, picking off a few galleries to earn the serve. Vigrass’s best game was the second. Thereafter, Fahey’s error count dropped lower and lower. Vigrass camped out in the backhand corner, awaiting Fahey’s cut shots, but Fahey was able to slide them down the forehand side instead. Towards the end of the set, Vigrass tried to take on a bit too much, leading to more errors. Fahey took the first set with a pair of hard and flat forces at the dedans. In the second set, Vigrass had a couple of opportunities to take the fourth game, thanks to some errors on Fahey’s backhand. Even so, Vigrass was unable to take a game as Fahey won the second set and her 14th French Open title.
The men’s final was proceeded by a homage to Pascal Guerout, a recently deceased member of the club, with anthems then played on the cello by Butterfly Paterson. The galleries were filled with junior players from all three French real tennis clubs to witness the match between Camden Riviere and John Lumley. Riviere started the match well, generating good angles on his boast and dragging Lumley up the court and into errors on his half-volley. Riviere’s railroads were tight as well, and his cause was helped by Lumley regularly finding the net tape across the first set. Once the rally got going, Riviere picked off the tambour, finding a productive spin as he cruised through the first set conceding just 11 points.
Lumley’s force improved at the start of the second set, finding more of the dedans rather than the penthouse. He won the first game of the set, but still couldn’t control his serve, feeding Riviere main walls. In a flash, Riviere was 3/1 ahead, seemingly halfway to a straight-forward victory. But Lumley wasn’t interested in letting the match be a procession. He took the game on, becoming the aggressor in most of the restes. The score evened up at 3-all and then 4-all as Riviere was eating main wall forces. Riviere switched his serve to a high drop, looking to break up the pattern of play. It worked, earning him a handful of set points. The penultimate point was the highest quality yet witnessed during the match, with Riviere hitting his maximum foot speed and reading several difficult bounces and spins. Riviere won the set defending chase ten.
Lumley was motivated from the success he had in the middle of the second set and applied it to the third. His railroad was much improved, regularly dancing across, and he covered the third ball of the rally to place it into the grille. Riviere couldn’t turn on the railroad as easily, preventing him from playing his signature disguised force. Lumley built a three game lead as Riviere’s play grew erratic. Soon, Lumley had set point at chase fourteen. Riviere lined up to put the ball into the hazard galleries and Lumley ran forward to cover it. But the ball hit the gallery ledge instead, with Lumley using his quick hands to boast the ball out of trouble, but fractionally losing the chase. The following rally, still set point, lasted almost a minute which included Riviere retrieving a ball that struck the underside of the grille bandeau. Eventually, Lumley squeezed one past Riviere’s defences for a grille, fist-pumping in celebration as he won the set.
The grilles were coming thick and fast for Lumley at the start of the fourth set. He took the first game, but finally Riviere’s high work rate started paying off. Having lost four straight games across the third and fourth sets, he won three in a row with audible shouts of “c’mon” after each one. Yet still Lumley refused to concede, fighting back one game at a time. By now they had both lost half a yard of pace but the casual observer would never have known, given how they were throwing themselves around the court. Lumley went from 2/4 down to leading 5/4, before Riviere struck a couple of grilles to send the set to a deciding game.
With his eyes firmly fixed on the blue square, Riviere struck another two grilles in the 5-all game, but Lumley also beat Riviere’s backhand with his cut-volley to reach 30-all. Two gallery chases and the players changed ends. Riviere beat the first chase to hold a championship point. Playing the second, after a long rally, Lumley struck the high back wall above the grille and out towards the hazards. Riviere had it covered, playing a volley over his head facing away from the net to keep the ball alive. But Lumley slotted the ball into the hazard instead to save the match. From deuce, Lumley would have two set points of his own. The first, Riviere battered into the dedans but the second Lumley struck the grille to take the set.
Riviere found himself in a fifth set for just the fourth time in ten years — and his third against Lumley. Both players dropped their intensity slightly, with Riviere starting to cramp up in his legs and wrist. Even so, after tight deuce battles in the second and third games of the set, Riviere still had legs. He sprinted flat out from the grille to the hazard second gallery to play a boasted volley to chase four, his momentum carrying him into the galleries in the process. It helped him break away to 4/2, but, just as he had done for the whole match, Lumley fought back, winning the next three games to go 5/4 up. The tenth game went to deuce, and with a chase already in the bank, Lumley lined up at the dedans, hoping for championship point. Instead, it struck the forehand edge, darting across the court for a chase six. Changing ends, Riviere’s cut short into the forehand corner was called chase off, Another chase followed, before a flush back wall against Lumley forced the match into a deciding game.
It was the first time in over twenty years an Open singles final went to a final game in the final set, the previous occasion being at the 2006 Australian Open where Ruaraidh Gunn beat out Robert Fahey. Riviere opened the game with a ball at the grille, earning a volley error from Lumley. Lumley then struck two balls into the second gallery, the second of which took a chunk of the net on its way through. The chases were resolved with a pair of openings — one grille for Lumley and one dedans for Riviere. In the following rally, 15-30 down, Lumley had a looping ball off the penthouse and lined up to hit the grille again, but missed high. Riviere put the ball into the galleries instead. Yet another long rally followed, with Lumley still targeting the grille, but Riviere found a ball off his toes and into the dedans via the main wall. With another championship point and now at the service end, Riviere picked off Lumley’s return of serve into the hazard galleries with a backhand volley to win the match. He turned to the dedans with his hands on his head. The crowd gave the newly crowned French Open champion a standing ovation. After shaking hands with Lumley, Riviere held his arms aloft, soaking in the applause.
The tournament concludes on Sunday with the doubles finals. Both of the singles finalists will join forces for the doubles, with Vigrass & Fahey playing Meldrum & Voegele, while Riviere & Lumley will team up against Fahey & Virgona.
Match results:
2:30 PM: Claire Fahey (1) def Sarah Vigrass (2) 6/0 6/0
4:00 PM: Camden Riviere (1) vs John Lumley (2) 6/0 6/4 1/6 5/6
Order of play for Sunday (all times CEST):
1:30 PM: Claire Fahey & Sarah Vigrass (1) vs Kadi Meldrum & Claire Voegele
3:00 PM: Camden Riviere & John Lumley (1) vs Robert Fahey & Steve Virgona.