Smart battles injury in vain at Champions Trophy as Sayers, Taylor-Matthews advance
Shenkman battles hard but Taylor-Matthews’ wall prevents amateur's progress
Leon Smart struggled through pain and injury in an epic battle against Bryn Sayers, while Ben Taylor-Matthews honed his form on the Royal Tennis Court at the repechage round of the Champions Trophy at Hampton Court Palace on Friday.
Despite doubts about whether the match would take place (Leon Smart retired from his match against John Lumley the previous night with a reaggravation to his shoulder injury), Smart took to the court in the first repechage match against Bryn Sayers. It was immediately clear that Smart had not fully recovered from the previous day, as every time he hit the ball with pace he would recoil in pain, clasping at his shoulder. At times, he was on his haunches, clearly uncomfortable and looking as though he was about to throw in the towel. Sayers needed only to push the ball into the corners and won points easily, dropping just eight points in the set.
Smart took an injury timeout at the changeover of the set, making sure to use all of the five minutes available. When he returned to the court, he was a reformed man. He abandoned his forces and volleys, opting instead to chip it into the corners. Combined with finding his length on the high serve, Smart was able to make progress against an opponent who still did not look entirely comfortable in his movement with his new hip. Smart led a close set from the start, securing the deciding set once he had hit a worse than a yard chase, despite having a few more jarring moments on his shoulder late in the set.
The third set was slow, with plenty of chases and end changes. Smart switched to a railroad serve after Sayers won the first couple of games. The rallies quickly became long backhand exchanges, as Sayers started to get on top more and more. Targets were still few and far between but Sayers’s movement and shot execution was enough to push him over the line and into his second Champions Trophy semi-final after 2 hours of play.
The second match of the evening was between Robert Shenkman and Ben Taylor-Matthews in a repeat of the same place in the bracket as the previous year. The first set was an interrogation of Shenkman’s backhand technique by Taylor-Matthews, who probed away shot after shot until he established full control of the rally. Shenkman was struggling to find a good length on his railroad allowing Taylor-Matthews to dominate from both ends. Shenkman’s redeeming shot was his grille hitting, but it came good too late in the set for his comeback to be successful.
The early stages of the second set were a hard grind for both players. The first four games of the set took half an hour to complete as they each saw several back-and-forth deuces. The pair were much more evenly matched as both excelled defensively. However, Taylor-Matthews seemed to have an extra edge offensively to gain a small beachhead. The scoreboard pressure then helped him expand his break, finally running away with the set and securing his semi-final place.
Taylor-Matthews will therefore continue his run of unbroken Champions Trophy semi-final appearances on Saturday against John Lumley — despite having gone through the repechage in five out of seven editions. Later, Nick Howell will return from his rest day to play Sayers. A very limited number of tickets are still available for the finals and can be purchased via this link.
Match results:
4:45 PM: Leon Smart (4) lost to Bryn Sayers (6) 0/6 6/5 2/6
6:00 PM: Robert Shenkman (5) vs Ben Taylor-Matthews (3) 3/6 1/6
Order of play for Saturday (all times BST):
12:30 PM: John Lumley (1) vs Ben Taylor-Matthews (3)
2:00 PM: Bryn Sayers (6) vs Nick Howell (2)