Oxford and Radley players ascendant on first day of British Open Qualifiers
Greenhalgh, Henman, Batstone and Yorston through to final qualifying round
The British Open Qualifying got underway on Wednesday with players from the Oxford and Radley real tennis clubs winning through to the final qualifying round.
It was a tentative start between Oxford professional Craig Greenhalgh and Wellington professional Adam Player, both players seeming surprised by the quicker pace of the new balls and being caught short on several occasions. After both making several unforced errors early in the match, both players settled, with Greenhalgh taking the crucial long deuce game at 3/2. Greenhalgh’s confidence grew, a grin growing on his face as he closed out the set. His game was decidely more assured closing out the set with a clean grille. Despite winning the first game of the second set to love, Player never really looked like challenging in the second set. His shoulders slumped and he quickly conceded a large lead. Greenhalgh played well, mixing up his serve between loopy under-arm twists and railroads. He also found his range on the grille better as the match continued. Greenhalgh had two set points at 5/2, and another at 5/4, as Player tried hitting dedans to get himself out of trouble. It was to no avail as Greenhalgh won the match defending a better than 2 chase.
“It was tough. First [match] on Queen’s for a very long time so I couldn’t get used to the court, but got the job done,” said Greenhalgh after the match. “[The balls were] quick]. First ball of the knock-up almost stumped me. Completely missed it. But got used to it. Looking forward to tomorrow.”
Next was Oxford and Radley member and youngest player in the draw Henry Henman against Leamington professional Chris Aley. Henman started very slowly. His footwork was sluggish and he was trying to end the points much earlier than they deserved to be finished. Aley meanwhile, served quickly and punished Henman into the corners. Aley raced to a 4/0 lead with Henman hardly winning a point. Slowly, Henman’s forcing game started to bear some fruit, with a couple of consecutive dedans. But Aley was able to hold on and take the first set easily. Aley started the second set strongly building a small lead. But Henman started to find his rhythm, largely puting away his force and playing Aley to the corners. His footwork improved as well over the course of the .set, and he started to hit his targets more. By the end of the set, Henman was dominant, blitzing the last three games to level the match. Henman blitzed his way through the final set. His volleys were crisp and his forces found their range, as Aley had to fend off balls that were curving in to his body. His movement improved as well as he raced to a 6/1 victory.
“I’ve got a bad habit at the moment of losing the first [set]. I haven’t won the first set of a competitive match since May,” said Henman. “I just reset completely after each set - you can’t change the outcome of a point or set already played, so why stress about it? I just control my breathing and get my head down for the sets to come. The balls came through and were slipping more than I’d expected, so just tried to get balls onto the back wall, where it would die. I hit a few crucial galleries as well which helped me to break momentum and slow it down.”
Cambridge professional Mark Hobbs and Old Radleian Ned Batstone battled through the first four games of their match exchanging two apiece. Both players were happy to hit the ball with a lot of pace and spin, looking for the ball to kick off the various surfaces of the court. A moment of controversy occured with Hobbs signaling a ball as out of court above the tambour wall, but continued to play the ball. Marker Greenhalgh disagreed and allowed play to continue, but Batstone had stopped and didn’t attempt to play the ball with the point called as a short chase. Neither player found much of an advantage through the fifth and sixth games, which contained 16 deuces between them. Eventually, both went the way of Batstone, who was able to go build on his lead and close out the 50 minute set.
The players continued to exchange games at the start of the second set but the high intensity of the match was taking it’s toll on Hobbs who started to look more laboured in his movement around the court. Hobbs tried to change things up by trialling a forcing game, but Batstone’s defense was too strong as the Old Radleian closed out the match in straight sets.
The match between the former Oxford Blues captains was close on paper and proved to be during the match as well. Yorston played a classy floor game, pushing Whitaker around the court. At times, Whitaker would oblidge in the floor battle, but he would start hitting straight forces towards the latter half of the set. Yorston managed to close out the first set, having battled his way to 4-all.
Whitaker came out firing in the second set, striking several dedans through Yorston’s forehand and seemed to have found a hole in Yorston’s game. Whitaker powered his way to a 3/0 lead. Although Yorston switched his serve to a high serve with moderate success late in the set, Whitaker was too strong from both ends of the court taking the second set 6/3. The early stages of the third set were close with the lead changing several times. Yorston started to stretch mount a defense volleying Whitaker’s barrage of the dedans. He was able to turn the table into an attack with effective and relentless targeting of the mid-height tambour. An unfortunately timed double fault on a demi-pique by Whitaker gave Yorston the edge he needed to run away with the set, booked a slot in the final qualifying round against Zak Eadle.
Play continues on Thursday with the final singles qualifying matches.
Match results:
Adam Player lost to Craig Greenhalgh 2/6 4/6
Henry Henman def Chris Aley 2/6 6/4 6/1
Ned Batstone def Mark Hobbs 6/3 6/2
Jonny Whitaker lost to Benedict Yorston 4/6 6/3 3/6
Order of play for Thursday:
1:30 pm James Medlow vs Craig Greenhalgh
3:00 pm Will Flynn vs Henry Henman
4:30 pm Neil Mackenzie vs Ned Batstone
6:00 pm Zak Eadle vs Benedict Yorston
Tickets are still available for the main draw matches here: https://tennis-rackets.eventize.co.uk/calendars/tennis
For full match listings see the Tennis and Rackets Association: https://www.tennisandrackets.com/real-tennis/tournaments-fixtures/british-open-singles-and-doubles-championships-2024#overview