Williams holds strong over Stenning in three as Australian Open qualifying kicks off in Melbourne
Henman holds off Legg in battle of philosophies
The Australian Open qualifying has begun in Melbourne, with eight singles players and four doubles pairs fighting it out for a coveted spot in the main draw.
The qualifying for the Australian Open took place, unusually, on the South court at the Royal Melbourne Tennis Club, with the premier North court being used for practice for the main draw players. The first match was between neo-Pro Henry Henman and Tasmanian amateur Sammy Legg. Legg was attempting to play directly out of the old-school real tennis playbook, neatly cutting the ball into the corners but with a certain predictability in his decision-making and without any out-and-out weapons. Henman was the polar opposite, playing an unpredictable, high-variance game which looked amazing when he was able to pull it off but also resulted in a large number of unforced errors and balls onto the penthouse. The two approaches balanced out for the bulk of the first set, though without Legg ever earning a lead, with Henman taking the last two games of the set.
Henman dialled up the pace of his forcing in the second set, finding a weakness in Legg’s ability to both read and then deal with the ball on the volley. He was also able to take advantage of the quick Melbourne main wall to pound balls into the dedans throughout. Legg’s best balls in response were those that were extremely slow paced, catching Henman out as the young pro was expecting a faster pace onto his racket or misreading them entirely. For the second straight set, they battled to 4-all, but this time, Legg was better able to absorb the pressure in the long rallies to push Henman to a deciding eleventh game. Legg, with the serve, took the lead with a desperation over-the-shoulder volley onto the tambour but couldn’t hold on as Henman slapped a couple of main wall dedans to finish off the match.
The second qualifying match was between the only French player in the Open draw, Bauduoin Hunynh-Lenhardt, and the local amateur Paul Rosedale. Rosedale was able to show off his home-court knowledge from the start of the match, pressuring Huynh-Lenhardt with his wrist-snapping volley taking time out of the Frenchman. Huynh-Lenhardt in response was relying on his strong grounding and excellent hands to counterpunch back at Rosedale but couldn’t find the advantage in the rally as the Australian’s hyper-aggression won out. By the end of the match, Huynh-Lenhardt was searching for ideas while Rosedale’s shot quality kept getting better and better, with the Australian taking a comfortable straight-sets victory.
The third first round qualifying match was between two rising stars in the Australian amateur scene: Rhys Williams and Nick Stenning. Of the two, Williams looked the most match-ready, controlling proceedings from the beginning and immediately putting Stenning under pressure — the latter slipping over in front of the tambour in the second game desperately trying to return a ball. Williams was hitting his targets well, finding galleries at will. Meanwhile, Stenning was having difficulty reading Williams’s railroad onto his left-handed volley, unable to generate an effective response that would avoid Williams playing straight back up the line onto the tambour. Williams cruised through a 6/1 victory in the first set.
Stenning dug deep at the start on the second, improving his retrieving game with the aim of getting as many balls in play as possible. Through some hard graft, and a bit of luck, he was able to build out a three game lead. Williams took a while to adapt to the changed tempo of the match, now having to fight his way out of trouble rather than play out the easy balls. At one point, after running back from retrieving a ball at the net, he wore a main wall force from Stenning on his wrist, which broke his wristwatch. As the set wound towards its conclusion, Stenning started to get the better of the cross-court rallies, getting the ball behind Williams as he played for the tambour. Stenning saw his first set point come and go in the 5/3 game, unable to beat a last gallery chase, but brought up his second with a brilliant over the shoulder backhand volley that just cleared the net to die under the grille. This time, he was able to convert and send the match into a decider.
Williams regrouped at the start of the third set, going back to basics as he refocused on playing his natural game. He was more content with playing out the longer rallies and backing himself to find a good outcome rather than getting drawn in to Stenning’s wild hitting. It worked well, building a 5/1 lead before stalling out for a couple of games with the finish line in sight. Despite Stenning’s fight, the deficit was too large to overcome, as Williams secured his place in the second round of qualifying.
The last of the singles first round qualifying matches was between Sydney professional Alex Marino-Hume and another local amateur, Eli Kozma. Marino-Hume was in control of proceedings from the very first ball, calmly picking balls out of the air but never over-hitting. Outside of his high serve, Kozma couldn’t find a way to make inroads to the Sydney pro, at least until Marino-Hume started to take it easy later on in the set. The second set played out similarly, with Kozma increasingly vocalising his amusement at the balls he was being forced to retrieve. Marino-Hume took the match easily setting up a date with Williams for a place in the main draw.
After a short break, play resumed with the beginning of the doubles qualifying, with Rosedale partnering Hollins to take on Huynh-Lenhardt and Legg. The latter pair set up with Legg at the back and Huynh-Lenhardt maintaining a very high position at the front while Hollins and Rosedale opted for server-up. Though Legg and Huynh-Lenhardt had the majority of the play from the service end, Rosedale and Hollins had them covered for the bulk of the shots they could hit, with an unforced error or mistake coming sooner or later. Their solid play won them the first set comfortably, until Legg started to play out of his skin to make the second set competitive. The highlight being a defensive volley Legg played like a badminton shot, technically on his forehand but reaching all the way over to take it off his left shoulder. Nonetheless, they weren’t able to hold on to challenge deep in the set as Rosedale and Hollins easily secured progression.
Williams and Stenning had to put aside their battle from earlier in the day for their doubles qualifier against Marino-Hume and Claire Fahey. Fahey and Marino-Hume impressed, especially from the service end where Fahey was ready and able to punish anything loose. Stenning and Williams were keen to apply some pace to the ball to try and put Fahey and Marino-Hume on the back foot but it too often resulted in an easy ball for Fahey. Marino-Hume played gallery role well as they breezed through in straight sets.
Play continues on Monday with the remaining three qualifying matches: two singles and one doubles each playing for a spot in the main draw, which begins on Tuesday.
Match results:
9:30 AM: Henry Henman def Sammy Legg 6/4 6/5
11:00 AM: Bauduoin Huynh-Lenhardt lost to Paul Rosedale 2/6 2/6
12:00 PM: Rhys Williams def Nick Stenning 6/1 4/6 6/3
1:30 PM: Eli Kozma lost to Alex Marino-Hume 2/6 2/6
3:30 PM: Paul Rosedale & Tony Hollins def Sammy Legg & Baudouin Huynh-Lenhardt 6/2 6/4
4:30 PM: Nick Stenning & Rhys Williams lost to Claire Fahey & Alex Marino-Hume 1/6 2/6
Order of play for Monday (all times AEDT):
1:30 PM: Henry Henman vs Paul Rosedale
Followed by (approx 2:30 PM): Rhys Williams vs Alex Marino-Hume
6:30 PM: Paul Rosedale & Tony Hollins vs Claire Fahey & Alex Marino-Hume