Virgona defies broken wrist to win French Open doubles with Howell
Garside wins first Open title with Fahey
Steve Virgona has backed up his French Open singles victory by taking the doubles crown in Paris on Sunday alongside Nick Howell, who defended his 2024 title, despite playing in a cast with a broken wrist sustained in the singles final the previous day. Meanwhile, Claire Fahey continued her dominant performance, partnering Jess Garside to the latter’s maiden Open doubles title.
First, the four women in the tournament took to the court in the women’s doubles final — the only match in that particular draw. Recently crowned junior World Champions Katherine Carney and Lydia Compton-Burnett took on Claire Fahey and Jess Garside, joining in combination in competition for the first time. Carney and Compton-Burnett chose a lopsided receiving setup, with Carney taking Garside’s serve in an attempt to increase their chances of stealing a game off Garside’s serve. Their ploy almost worked, going 40-15 up in the second game of the match, aided by a number of balls on the penthouse by Fahey and Garside. But after Garside fought back into the game, she and Fahey never looked back. Fahey was a brick wall at the back of the court, with as great control of her length as ever. A change of server-receiver pairs going into the second set helped the junior champions reach deuce once more on the back of some excellent net-volleys from Compton-Burnett. But Garside and Fahey were not to be stopped, finishing off the match in just half an hour and securing Garside’s first Open doubles victory.
In the third set of the singles final the previous afternoon and two points away from the title, Virgona had fallen over while re-centering himself after a return of serve. He put his hand out to break his fall and, after cementing the final few points he needed, went off to hospital for a scan which confirmed he had broken his wrist. There was much speculation around the club throughout the morning of the doubles finals as to whether he would take to the court for the doubles final with Nick Howell, with Will Flynn primed to take his spot in an exhibition should he be unable to take to the court. But after walking into the club, cast on his wrist the anticipation was that he would play. Ahead of the match, Virgona went on court to practice some serves. Only able to drop the ball onto his racket, railroads would not be an option, but he was still determined to play.
Their opponents were Robert Shenkman and Leon Smart, the former playing in his first major final, singles or doubles. The occasion was evident in Shenkman’s play, missing a number of defensive volleys that he would normally be expected to make. Howell’s forcing was able to put Smart and Shenkman under significant pressure from the start of the match, while Virgona’s volleying at the net remained world class, injury notwithstanding. Towards the end of the first set, Smart inserted himself into the game, entering some great volleying duels with Virgona. From 1/5 down they had points for 3/5 but couldn’t convert, with Howell and Virgona sealing the set with a Shenkman error.
By the second set, Virgona was more relaxed, starting to expand his serving repertoire by adding a center-court railroad or side-wall serve. The rallies were getting longer and more entertaining, with the crowd becoming more vocal in support of the high standard of play they were witnessing. Virgona’s finishes were as classy as ever, even despite his cast, thrilling the crowd with some brutally efficient winners. Time and time again, Howell and Virgona were able to get the upper hand in the rallies, eventually wearing their opponents down until a winner presented itself. Shenkman and Smart took their second and last game of the second set with a tight hazard chase call with Smart appealing to the galleries for their favour in the decision.
In the third set, Virgona and Howell were ascendant. Howell was forcing hard, keen to wrap the match up as quickly as possible. As they got close to the finish line, they dropped their intensity slightly, allowing Shenkman and Smart their last two games, but never got close to threatening the set. Any sense that Virgona was encumbered by his cast had long since passed, as he and Howell cruised to victory.
The show now moves back to the United States with the re-instated IRTPA Player’s Championships in Aiken in October, with the British Open to follow at Queen’s in November.
Match results:
12:30 PM: Claire Fahey & Jess Garside def Katherine Carney & Lydia Compton-Burnett 6/0 6/0
2:30 PM: Nick Howell & Steve Virgona (1) def Robert Shenkman & Leon Smart (2) 6/2 6/2 6/2