Vallat beats Player twice in a day at US Open qualifying
Motz wins battle of Westwood over Barker
The US Open qualifying matches began on Wednesday at the Westwood Country Club in Virginia near Washington with two singles and two doubles qualifying matches. The matches featured predominately local players, with the travelling players to begin in earnest on Thursday.
The tournament began with a doubles qualifying first round match between Max Trueman and Chase Motz against Pete Dickinson and Henry Smith. Dickinson and Smith resumed their partnership from the last year’s Open in Philadelphia, while Trueman and Motz were teaming up for the first time in competition. Both partnerships took a while to figure each other out, but soon settled on Smith and Trueman patrolling the forehand side for their respective teams.
The first few games were shared, before Trueman started to nudge ahead. The duo built a two game buffer, ensuring Dickinson and Smith could not recover the set. By the second set, Trueman was imperious, fully demonstrating his Chisholm-esque reconstituted racquet swing. Motz held his own with his gallery volleys, spiking several balls directly into the floor and having one go in the winning gallery. But the second set was the Trueman show from start to finish as they closed through the final set without dropping a game. Trueman and Motz move on to face Erik Barker and Noah Motz in the next qualifying round tomorrow.
A direct place in the main draw was up for grabs in the second match of the day. Wellington’s Adam Player teamed up with Newport’s Tony Hollins for the first time since the 2014 US Open. They played the untested amateur pairing of Danny McBridge and Bertie Vallat, the latter fresh from the British Amateur final. McBride wasn’t as dominant a gallery player for Vallat as rackets player Nick James had been in that competition though, meaning Vallat had to do a lot more work at the back of the court to compensate.
Hollins and Player deliberately picked on McBride, especially from the service end. Hollins played back, sending Player up to the galleries as the two steadily grew their lead. Vallat settled into the match to recover from 2-5 to 4-5, but Hollins held firm to take the set, beating a last gallery chase by deliberately sending the ball in to the hazards.
Vallat came out in the second set much more aggressively, ripping in cut-volleys from the hazard end and being a solid wall while at the service end. He now had the momentum, which helped lift McBride’s volley as he started to hit more and more winners himself. They went on a 10 game streak, which included winning the second set in the process.
However, midway through the final set, they began to stumble. Hollins and Player wrestled back the momentum with a good series of runs from the service end. In no time at all they had levelled the final set at 4-all. With the match in the balance, Vallat and McBride recovered the serve as they were able to push through the last two games relatively comfortably. They now progress into the main draw to play Lewis Williams and Darren Long.
The next match was the first of the singles qualifiers, a highly anticipated affair between two Westwood amateurs, in Noah Motz and Erik Barker. Barker had recently played in the final of the Tuxedo Gold Racquet against Oliver Pridmore the previous weekend. But it was Motz who was on top from the start, playing big shots and sending Barker scrambling around the court. In the first set, Barker struggled for consistency and could not apply any pressure on Motz. He took his solitary game of the set by hitting the gong in the winning gallery.
Barker’s consistency was much improved in the second set, going toe-to-toe with Motz for the first half. Motz responded by elevating his game as well, playing his shots and looking to close out points quickly. After the seventh and eighth games were closely battled over, it looked as though the set would go down to the wire. After Motz snuck both games, he forced his way quickly through the ninth and final game, progressing to the next round, due to be played on Friday.
The final match of the day saw Bertie Vallat taking to the court against Adam Player for the second time of the day. Despite being the stronger player on paper, Vallat could not find a rhythm on the foreign Westwood court. He struggled to get a ball past Player, growing visibly frustrated and dropping his shoulders. The crucial game in the first set was at 3-all with a long deuce battle, as neither could build a run of a few points back to back. Vallat eventually won the game, then hitting two back-to-back grilles as his confidence returned. He hardly dropped another point on his way to taking the set 6/3. Vallat continued his run through the first five games of the second set. He required four match points to overcome a late wobble, but secured his place Friday’s second round qualifier against Noah Motz.
Qualifying continues on Thursday, with the remaining first round qualifers and the last doubles qualifier.
Match results:
11:00 am: Pete Dickinson & Henry Smith lost to Max Trueman & Chase Motz 4/6 0/6
12:10 pm: Tony Hollins & Adam Player lost to Bertie Vallat & Danny McBride 6/4 0/6 4/6
1:20 pm: Noah Motz def Erik Barker 6/1 6/3
Order of play for Thursday (all times EST):
11:00 am: Pete Dickinson vs Tony Hollins
12:15 pm: Louis Gordon vs Max Trueman
1:45 pm: Will Flynn vs Freddie Bristowe
3:15 pm: Vaughan Hamilton vs Henry Smith
4:45 pm: Erik Barker & Noah Motz vs Pete Dickinson & Henry Smith