The IRTPA Players’ Championship main draw got underway at Aiken on Wednesday, highlighted by a three-set come-from-behind battle between Bryn Sayers and Lewis Williams finishing late in the evening. Meanwhile, both Dickinson brothers put in good showings but inevitably fell short against their higher-ranked opponents
The main draw of the IRTPA Players’ Championship began with the breakout performer from the Satellite, Pete Dickinson, taking on the second seed, John Lumley. Dickinson knew the match would be a step above anything he faced in the Satellite, so determined the best course of action was to finish the point as quickly as possible, often aiming at the dedans. He battled with Lumley through a back-and-forth deuce battle in the third game for over ten minutes. Lumley was winding up through the gears, giving Dickinson less and less to work with. Soon, Dickinson was overextending, taking on shots that weren’t paying off. Lumley was happy to sit in and wait for the error. Though Dickinson was able to pick up a few more games, Lumley eased himself to a straight-sets victory.
Next, the Satellite finalist Josh Smith challenged the fourth seed Ben Taylor-Matthews. Taylor-Matthews set up a defensive wall, barely letting a ball past him while redirecting it into good areas which garnered errors from Smith. The fourth seed cruised through the first five games, before Smith stole one back with a couple of controlled backhand volleys. It didn’t stop Taylor-Matthews’s constant drumbeat of a march, never panicking or being drawn into a false shot. Smith took the first game of the second set as well, but Taylor-Matthews quickly established a lead there too, wrapping up the match with a flurry of targets.
The evening session began with Ben Dickinson and the finalist from the previous edition, Rob Fahey. Like his brother, Dickinson sought to take the game to his much higher-ranked opponent, playing his shots with freedom. Fahey was trying to punish him into the corners, playing several open-stance cut shots off the back foot in an effort to avoid having to run, but the court wasn’t giving him much to work with. The pair exchanged games for the first half of the first set before Fahey broke away with a couple of quick games. Dickinson pulled one back but Fahey took the first set regardless. In the second set, Dickinson had the advantage whenever he could make Fahey move quickly across the court. However, the former World Champion’s control of the ball when it was in his hitting zone meant such opportunities were few and far between for the young American. Fahey didn’t overexert himself on his way to a two game lead in the second set. Dickinson never gave in, fighting back to within a point of 4-all, but Fahey pulled a pair of trademark forces out of the bag to deny him. Not wanting to give his opponent another chance, Fahey put in one final push to close out the match.
The cocktail match was between the World Number 8, Bryn Sayers, and the World Number 9, Lewis Williams — a battle between the two most recent winners of the Satellite. Williams leant into his pace from the start of the match, hitting low drives for long chases or picking his moments for straight forces. From the service end, he opted for his underarm twist again to restrict Sayers’s options off the back wall. It earned him a 4/1 advantage, with Sayers having to work his way through the long rallies to turn the tables in his favour. Sayers also started to get his high serve to stick tight, setting up a structured rally that he was able to control, pulling back two games as a result. But once Williams was able to recover the service end, it was enough for him to get over the line and take the first set.
Williams was still the aggressor in the second set, keeping Sayers on the back foot and giving his defensive play a workout. But Sayers held the line, occasionally turning the play around and working Williams from corner to corner. The pair split the first half of the set evenly, each going on short runs of two games but never drawing a lead. Williams was two points away from a 5/3 lead with two long chases, but he turned on a pair of balls on the back wall that stayed low and he couldn’t recover. His power shots were also dropping a fraction in accuracy giving Sayers the opportunity to attack the grille corner. Sayers won the last ten points of the set without conceding a chase, evening the match at 1 set all.
Sayers’s run continued until the second game of the third set, picking up another six points before finally making a racket error. From there he began forcing everything he could, which proved a high-risk, high-reward strategy even if it did mean the play was on his terms. The set hinged on the third game, which broke towards Sayers after several changes of ends. He pushed on through the next couple as well, extending a 4/1 lead. Williams refused to let the match run away from him, digging in for the sixth game. Sayers had a 40-0 lead in the following game but sent a series of shots into the net instead. They locked horns at deuce again, with Williams again coming out on top. Sayers was finally able to close out the match, again with the help of the back wall nick to win his final two required games to progress to the quarter-finals.
Play continues on Thursday with the remaining first round matches. The quarter-finals then follow on Friday.
Match results:
12:15 PM: John Lumley (2) def Pete Dickinson 6/3 6/2
1:45 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (4) def Josh Smith 6/1 6/1
5:30 PM: Rob Fahey (6) def Ben Dickinson 6/3 6/3
7:15 PM: Bryn Sayers (8) def Lewis Williams 3/6 6/4 6/3
Order of play for Thursday (all times EDT):
12:15 PM: Camden Riviere (1) vs Vaughan Hamilton
1:45 PM: Robert Shenkman (7) vs Max Trueman
5:30 PM: Nick Howell (3) vs Henry Henman
7:15 PM: Steve Virgona (5) vs Josh Dodgson