Satellite players put strong showing in IRTPA Player's Championships but seeds progress
Riviere, Shenkman, Howell and Taylor-Matthews through first round in straight sets
The main draw of the IRTPA Players’ Championship finally got underway at the Aiken Tennis Club on Wednesday, with all four seeds beating the qualifiers from the Satellite to progress through to the quarter-finals.
Each of the first round matches saw one of the players from the Satellite draw taking on one of the top 8 seeds. The extra match practice that the unseeded players received in theory would work in their favour against the seeded opponent who would be coming in relatively cold. The tournament kicked off with Josh Smith taking on number 1 seed, recent World Championship victor and home favourite Camden Riviere. Smith took full advantage of his recent court time by working his way to a 4/2 lead with some hard target-hitting, while Riviere took time to warm up his backhand retrieval. However, Riviere chased him down with unrelenting efficiency, dancing back and forth as he has done so effectively over the years. Smith’s last chance came when he had advantage in the 4-all game, but hit the ball tantalisingly out of court. Riviere mopped up nine games in a row to rubber stamp his place in the quarter-finals, with Smith eking the penultimate game.
The second match was between Tony Hollins and amateur champion Robert Shenkman — the only amateur in the draw, and who had qualified based on his world ranking and not by status. Shenkman was very passive at the start of the match, content to chip back returns and wait for the error from Hollins. But the Newport professional was up to the task, eliciting enough awkward bounces or funny edges to beat Shenkman enough to be going game to game with him through the first set. Shenkman’s cause was not helped by his poor serving, unable to hit a good length on his railroad. It was only when they reached 3-all that Shenkman was finally able to establish himself fully into the match. By adding just the occasional expansive shot, he tipped the balance of play in his favour, winning the next three games and the first set. The second set was much more one-sided, as despite the occasional on-target straight force from Hollins, Shenkman had complete control. Shenkman led from start to finish, securing his progression to the quarter-finals.
The evening session saw two players who were very familiar with the Aiken court do battle. Home court pro and third seed Nick Howell played Satellite finalist Max Trueman, playing his fourth match on the court in as many days. Howell was determined not to give his opponent a fast start like the afternoon session matches, demonstrating his strong forcing ability from the very start of the match. Additionally, the winning gallery was seeing plenty of action from both players. But despite some entertaining tennis on display from Trueman, Howell was never made to feel any real scoreboard pressure through the first set.
The second set was a different story. Howell was cruising at 4/2 up when Trueman stepped up a gear, winning the next two games from deuce to bring it back to 4-all. Then, at 5/4 up, Trueman started the game attacking two long chases, but a nice shot into the forehand by Howell followed by a railroad ace helped bring it back to 5-all sending the set to a deciding game. Howell held the serve, going 40-15 up but Trueman sneaked a ball down the main wall for a worse than 1 chase. He fended off Howell’s first force, barely keeping the ball in play off the high back wall, but Howell put the next shot into the back of the dedans net to seal the match, to the delight of the full Aiken galleries.
The final match of the evening was between Josh Dodgson and Ben Taylor-Matthews — the latter one of few top players with recent match experience in Aiken having played Howell in a World Championship Eliminator earlier in the year. Despite dropping the first two games, Taylor-Matthews honed in his target hitting as Dodgson scrambled around the court trying to stay in touch. Taylor-Matthews won five straight games as he calmly went about his business. Dodgson snuck the next two but Taylor-Matthews didn’t seem to care, chipping the ball into the backhand shot after shot until he won the set.
Dodgson took an injury timeout in the second game of the second set. The break did not slow down Taylor-Matthews, who kept hitting the dedans with abandon. He was easily able to see off every Dodgson attack while never looking under pressure. Taylor-Matthews fittingly finished off the match with yet another main wall dedans, with Dodgson failing to win a game in the second set despite a couple of chances from deuce.
Play continues on Thursday with the remaining first round matches, with the quarter-finals to take place on Friday.
Match results:
12:00 PM: Camden Riviere (1) def Josh Smith 6/4 6/1
1:30 PM: Robert Shenkman (8) def Tony Hollins 6/3 6/1
5:00 PM: Nick Howell (3) def Max Trueman 6/1 6/5
7:00 PM: Josh Dodgson lost to Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) 4/6 0/6
Order of play for Thursday (all times EDT):
12:00 PM: Pete Dickinson vs John Lumley (2)
1:30 PM: Vaughan Hamilton vs Steve Virgona (6)
5:00 PM: Bryn Sayers vs Robert Fahey (5)
7:00 PM: Leon Smart (7) vs Lewis Williams