Fahey and Van Der Zwalmen to face off in US Open Final
Tan and Clark seek to join for the doubles final respectively
Claire Fahey and Lea Van Der Zwalmen have secured their spots in the US Open final after the second day of competition at the Racquet Club of Philadelphia. They will play a rematch of the 2023 final, with the doubles finalists to be confirmed on Sunday morning.
Early round matches took places across Friday and Saturday morning, entirely between US-based players seeking a chance to battle against one of the top seeds in the quarter finals. The pick of the matches was a nervy first round match between Beth Winthrop and Priscilla Person that ended in a tense deciding game. Later, in a match that finished at midnight on Friday, fourth seed Annie Clark had a tigher than expected fight with a rapidly improving Philadelphian in the shape of Alexis Dorr. The remainder of the matches went to seed, mostly ending in fast double-bagels.
The international-standard players entered around the quarter finals, the top two seeds receiving byes to that stage. Women’s World Champion Claire Fahey had an uncharacteristically slow start in her quarter final against local Philadelphian Victoria Scott, with unforced errors on the first four points giving away the first game. She put it behind her quickly, finding a good range with her dedans striking, and got to work from the service end. She hardly let a ball go to the back wall as her volleying was consistent enough to take time out of Scott’s play. She was especially productive in balls missing the tambour, as Scott was never in position to play them. Scott could engage in some decent rallies with Fahey, especially on her volley, but never looked in a position to capitalise.
Jo See Tan played the second quarter final against another Philadelphian, Libby Gephart. Tan had her game face on when serving, mixing in some long and short left-handed railroads with her side walls. Gephart could only spoon the balls back to Tan, giving her ample opportunity to hit killer balls under the grille. She looked comfortable leaving balls to the back wall, the slow pace of the wall combined with Gephart’s top spin giving her plenty of space to nail the ball low. Gephart got the most value on her shots sticking tight to the main wall on Tan’s backhand, picking up several points and chases. Gephart managed a solitary game in the first set on an error from Tan, but it was otherwise a faultless performance from the Australian.
The third quarter final was an all-American affair between Westwood’s Annie Clark and Aiken’s Kadi Meldrum. Clark was hitting very high quality shots with her two-handed backhand off the short grip, getting a good height over the net before dying onto the back wall, making it very difficult for Meldrum to stay in the rallies. Clark’s volley return of serve was powerful from the very first reste of the match, consistently getting a very good angle into Meldrum’s forehand. Meldrum tried to vary her serve to disrupt Clark, getting success from serves which took an extra bounce or two and earning two games in the first set. Come the second set and Meldrum snuck a couple more games by cramping Clark against the side walls. However, Clark’s general play was too strong for Meldrum, moving on to a maiden Open semi final.
The last quarter final saw Newport’s Amy Wintersteen challenge the World Number 2 Lea Van Der Zwalmen. The Frenchwoman struck a serious but composed figure as she only conceded one chase in the first set. She patrolled the service end of the court, not being too aggressive and waiting for the moment to pounce. She hit her shots with length rather than cut, with her only real blemish being a couple of volleys that she hit into the ceiling. There was little Wintersteen could do as Van Der Zwalmen rolled through point after point with clean, consistent strokeplay. The number 2 seed took the match without dropping a game.
The semi finals continued straight afterwards, with Tan challenging Fahey for a spot in Sunday’s final. Fahey was hitting the ball noticably harder than her quarter final, ripping in cut-volleys and smacking forces at the dedans. There was little Tan could do against the World Champion. The two got into a rhythm of Tan hitting a return of serve to Fahey’s backhand, then Fahey retrieving well and putting a difficult ball into Tan’s left-handed forehand around the tambour. The pressure grew on Tan as she tried to finish points quickly, but often from a position of disadvantage in the rally causing errors. Despite some strong moments, Tan never threated to take a game of Fahey as the two repeated the scoreline from the previous year’s final.
The last match of the day was the semi final between Lea Van Der Zwalmen and Annie Clark, the latter playing her first ever Open semi final. The Frenchwoman showed of her acumen as a real tennis tactician, figuring out how to outplay her opponents lawn tennis tendancies. She neutered Clarks volley by jamming her against the side wall, or hitting boasts or backhands angling the ball across Clark instead of at her. Van Der Zwalmen also pulled off an impressive back wall boast under the grille in the third game of the match. Van Der Zwalmen was much more aggressive on her kill shots and target hitting than she has been in the recent past, playing an entertaining brand of tennis as she took the match comfortably.
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Match results:
Friday, February 7th
10:00 am: Ashley Fitz-Patrick def Liz Browning 6/3 6/2
11:00 am: Alexis Dorr def Sarah Stanley 6/0 6/0
12:00 noon: Kelly Patrick def Susan Dannelly 6/0 6/1
1:00 pm: Claire Voegele def Sydney Alderman 6/2 6/3
2:00 pm: Beth Winthrop def Priscilla Person 2/6 6/4 6/5
3:00 pm: Amy Wintersteen & Sarah Stanley def Kelly Patrick & Julia Nolan 6/1 6/0
4:00 pm: Libby Gephart & Brittany Wakim def Susan Dannelly & Hope Pallis 6/0 6/0
5:00 pm: Tess Browne & Ashley Fitz-Patrick def Liz Browning & SydneyAlderman 6/2 6/5
6:00 pm: Beth Winthrop & Noelle Shiland def Priscilla Person & Sydney Crowell 6/4 6/2
7:00 pm: Kadi Meldrum def Tess Browne 6/1 6/3
8:00 pm: Amy Wintersteen def Claire Voegele 6/4 6/3
9:00 pm: Annie Clark def Alexis Dorr 6/4 6/5
Saturday, February 8th
8:30 am: Victoria Scott def Beth Winthrop 6/1 6/0
9:15 am: Libby Gephart def Kelly Patrick 6/0 6/0
10:00 am: Jo See Tan def Ashley Fitz-Patrick 6/0 6/0
10:45 am: Claire Fahey & Jo See Tan def Beth Winthrop & Noelle Shiland 6/0 6/0
11:30 am: Alexis Dorr & Victoria Scott def Amy Wintersteen & Sarah Stanley 6/1 6/0
12:15 pm: Kadi Meldrum & Claire Voegele def Libby Gephart & Brittany Wakim 6/1 2/6 6/0
1:00 pm: Lea Van Der Zwalmen & Annie Clark def Tess Browne & Ashley Fitz-Patrick 6/0 6/0
1:45 pm: Claire Fahey def Victoria Scott 6/1/ 6/0
2:30 pm: Jo See Tan def Libby Gephart 6/1/ 6/0
3:15 pm: Annie Clark def Kadi Meldrum 6/2 6/2
4:00 pm: Lea Van Der Zwalmen def Amy Wintersteen 6/0 6/0
4:45 pm: Claire Fahey def Jo See Tan 6/0 6/0
5:30 pm: Lea Van Der Zwalmen def Annie Clark 6/0 6/0
Order of play for Sunday (all times EST):
9:00 am Claire Fahey & Jo See Tan vs Victoria Scott & Alexis Dorr
10:00 am Lea Van Der Zwalmen & Annie Clark vs Claire Voegele & Kadi Meldrum
1:00 pm (Singles Final): Claire Fahey vs Lea Van Der Zwalmen
2:30 pm (Doubles Final): TBC vs TBC