Virgona and Lumley catch fire in see-sawing US Open quarter final five-setter
Tanfield and Bristowe get close to re-igniting deep doubles run
The doubles quarter final day at the US Open at Westwood gave fans a selection of treats across the three matches, including a exhibitionist display from the World Champions, a tense back-and-forth that went the distance, and a collectors set of bizarre shots and unique rallies masquerading as a tennis match.
With the top seeds lining up on court for the first time in the tournament, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the unseeded quarter finalists. The day began with the doubles World Champions Camden Riviere and Tim Chisholm playing Louis Gordon and Robert Shenkman. As is often the case in their first rounds, Riviere and Chisholm were unphased by the scoreboard, knowing they had the talent and ability to dispense with Shenkman and Gordon easily. They treated the match as an exhibition, setting up in unconventional formations and playing crowd-pleasing shots.
At times, Chisholm appeared to the untrained eye to be wandering around the court like a lost tourist who had found his way on the court at Hampton Court. In reality, he was positioning himself in a way to cleverly restrict Shenkman and Gordon’s shots, knowing that he had the greatest retriever of all time behind him to mop up any shots he left. Late in the first set, Riviere and Shenkman were rallying up and down the main wall, when Chisholm decided his assistance was not required and wandered up the court and into the markers box to pre-empt the change of ends. Gordon saw Chisholm and did the same, leaving Riviere and Shenkman to finish their rally as though it were singles. Despite Shenkman’s valiant effort, he and Gordon never found a way to progress in the match, going down in straight sets.
In the next match, both pairs entered the second quarter final with lofty ambitions. Barney Tanfield and Freddie Bristowe were looking to replicate their remarkable semi final run in 2024, while Steve Virgona and John Lumley entered the tournament hoping to start a run for the title. As expected, Virgona and Lumley set up with Virgona moving up and down the galleries and Lumley covering the main wall to take full advantage of Virgona’s left-handed forehand. Bristowe and Tanfield were slightly overwhelmed through the first set, trying to press the play too hard and failing the low percentage shots. Virgona and Lumley calmly progressed through the set unfazed.
In the second set, Tanfield and Bristowe started to let their potential as a doubles pair shine through, with Tanfield’s power hitting well balanced by Bristowe’s fast feet and aggressive shots on the retrieval. They caught Virgona and Lumley flat-footed, less able to put away winners and put onto the defensive by Tanfield. They were leaking points, as Tanfield and Bristowe established and reinforced a lead in the set. Virgona and Lumley were mounting a comeback but ultimately fell short.
Virgona and Lumley wrestled back the momentum at the start of the third set, quickly establishing at 3-0 lead. Chases were rare, with time at the service end a valuable commodity and dividends paying out in the medium of games. Tanfield and Bristowe levelled the set at 3-all, but spent the bulk of the remainder of the set at the hazard end, watching on as Virgona and Lumley took a lead in the match. The fourth set was the first where the opening exchanges were evenly contested. Bristowe was keen to bring as much rackets flair as possible to the play, while Barney broke a racket while attempting to volley, snapping it in two over his knee. The third and sixth games were long deuce battles, with each point threatening to shape the remainder of the set. Neither pair established a lead of more than a game, until Tanfield and Bristowe brought up two set points at 5-4. Lumley was serving full piques, which Bristowe slammed back on the volley to send the match into a deciding set.
Twelve months ago, Tanfield and Bristowe beat Rob Fahey and Nick Howell in the fifth set of their quarter final. Virgona and Lumley were determined not to suffer the same fate, hitting their best passage of play of the match. Virgona definitively made his presence felt in the rallies, pinning back Tanfield and Bristowe back onto the defensive and removing the threat of their forcing and boasting weapons. Any attempt from Tanfield and Bristowe to counterpunch was too high risk, bleeding points. Virgona and Lumley won the final set 6/1, booking a semi final against Fahey and Howell, who progressed via a walkover due to Leon Smart’s recurrent shoulder injury.
The identity of the fourth semi finalist came down to a battle between fourth seeds Ben Taylor-Matthews and Nino Merola, and sixth seeds Lewis Williams and Darren Long. Both Williams and Long were attacking from the return of serve, trying to end the point quickly with a dedans or drawing an error from Merola and Taylor-Matthews. Merola in particular was targeted by Williams and Long, as his volleying was nervy and snatchy. Williams and Long had set points at 5-3, where Taylor-Matthews turned on and defended clincially. They next had set points in the 5-all game, defending a hazard chase a yard. Taylor-Williams launched a high back wall, but William’s kill shot was hit too hard, bounding back out to hazard 1 and 2 losing the chase. Taylor-Matthews then went on to give Williams and Long a taste of their own medicine, hitting a main wall dedans to win his own set point.
Merola was hitting the ball more cleanly through the second set. One particularly bizarre point saw Merola chasing down an errant force to the front forehand corner of the court and spiking it into the floor, looking to bounce it into the winning gallery. He fell into the net in the process — which is allowed in American tournaments — as he watched the ball spin up off the bandeau. Williams, calmly as anything, stepped up and played a behind the back volley. Taylor-Matthews tried chasing after it but was laughing at the comedic nature of the rally and missed his final shot. The remainder of the set was much more clinical from Taylor-Matthews and Merola.
Taylor-Matthews was able to play the steady hand in the third set, sending Merola forward as the attack dog to snap up anything loose from Williams and Long. After going up 3-0 in the set, they had a long run stuck at the hazard end, where Williams and Long threatened to play back into the match. Taylor-Matthews kept his cool, winning back the service end and completing one last push for the match. Taylor-Matthews and Merola locked in a rematch of the 2024 British Open semi final against Riviere and Chisholm, with Merola looking to keep his streak of taking sets from Riviere alive.
Match results:
12 noon: Camden Riviere & Tim Chisholm (1) def Robert Shenkman & Louis Gordon 6/1 6/1 6/3
2:00 pm: John Lumley & Steve Virgona (2) def Barney Tanfield & Freddie Bristowe 6/2 3/6 6/3 4/6 6/1
6:00 pm: Ben Taylor-Matthews & Nino Merola (4) vs Darren Long & Lewis Williams (6) 6/5 6/3 6/2
Robert Fahey & Nick Howell (2) received a walkover from Leon Smart & Josh Dodgson (5)
Order of play for Thursday (all times EST):
4:00 pm: John Lumley (2) vs Robert Fahey (5)
6:00 pm: Camden Riviere (1) vs Ben Taylor-Matthews (4)