World Champions dominate Australian Open
Claire Fahey wins 44th Open while Camden Riviere wins 32nd Open title
The two World Champions of real tennis proved their dominance once again with a dominant display at the singles finals of the Australian Open at the Hobart Real Tennis Club.
The women’s final was the thirteenth chapter in the ongoing saga between the world’s top two in Claire Fahey and Lea Van Der Zwalmen - eleven times on the real tennis court and twice at rackets. Fahey took the first blood, getting a better length on her return of serve. Van Der Zwalmen was serving tight high serves, forcing Fahey to boast out of trouble. But the spin taken from hitting two walls on the double boast repeatedly caught the Frenchwoman short. At other times, Van Der Zwalmen’s floated returns allowed Fahey to hit punishing volleys into the corners. The build-up of scoreboard pressure of the first set seemed to take the sting out of Van Der Zwalmen’s play, lacking in her usual fist-pumps and celebrations.
Van Der Zwalmen found her first game of the match early in the second set, putting a bit more pressure on Fahey and getting her to hit a few balls into the net. She added a few forces to her game as well, as the third game saw a tight deuce exchange, the advantage going to Fahey by virture of holding the service end. From there, Fahey was on a roll, pushing through the next few games comfortably, making good use of the tambour. Van Der Zwalmen’s second game came at 1-4 down, after Fahey took her foot off the gas slightly. Fahey earned her first match point courtesy of a ball coming off the dedans ledge and striking her opponent. She then went on to win the match with a ball under the grille, securing her 10th Australian Open title.
The Open singles final saw a match-up between World Champion Camden Riviere and the best ranked amateur by handicap Kieran Booth. Both players were serving fast railroads and getting a lot of early success with serves going into the nick. The early battle centered around Booth’s return of serve, played either with heavy cut-volley into the left-hander’s backhand corner or slapped directly back down the line. Where the return was loose, Riviere was able to capitalise playing into or around the tambour. Riviere seemed to get faster and faster as the first set went on, his first step after his split-step helping him glide into position to play the ball. Booth’s power hitting was easily swept up by the World Champion, taking the first set 6/1.
Booth had the faster start of the second set, taking a 1-0 40-0 lead. But as he has done so many times Riviere calmly got to work and methodically worked through the points. Booth, at times, seemed short of ideas to combat Riviere, not that anybody else had developed an effective strategy over the past decade and a half. The last 10 games raced by with as Riviere played flawlessly. Booth’s next game came courtesy of a rare Riviere double-fault. Nevertheless, Riviere stayed calm and won the next two games to take his 4th Australian Open with a match time of just over 65 minutes, even if he was sheepish in his celebration.
Match results:
Claire Fahey (1) def Lea Van Der Zwalmen (2) 6/0 6/2
Camden Riviere (1) def Kieran Booth (6) 6/1 6/1 6/1
Order of play for Tuesday (all times AEDT):
5pm (Women’s doubles final): Claire Fahey & Saskia Bollerman (1) vs Lea Van Der Zwalmen & Jess Garside (2)
followed by (Open doubles final): Camden Riviere & Chris Chapman (1) vs Ben Taylor-Matthews and Robert Fahey (2)