The 2024 Real Tennis French Open started on Sunday at the Jeu de Paume Paris. The men’s semifinals will take place on Thursday afternoon, while the ladies’ draw kicks off in the morning. In both draws, the World No.1s, Camden Riviere and Claire Fahey, are huge favorites.
Il would be too long to list all of Camden Riviere’s records, but here is one of them: the 37-year old American has not lost a set in the French Open since 2013! In the quarterfinal, which had been postponed from Wednesday to Thursday because the other three were marathons, he did not leave a chance to French No.1 and World No.11, Matthieu Sarlangue. “I didn’t know about this stat, I guess I like this very bouncy court which suits my game,” said Riviere. ”I do understand people might get bored of me winning all the time, but I work as hard as all the other guys, and I like to think they try and beat me everytime they get on court with me.”
Camden Riviere
In the semis, the 7-time French Open champion will meet World No.8 Leon Smart, who had to dig deep to vanquish his fellow Englishman Leon Williams – World No.12. “Luckily I managed to get my high serve right at the end of the match, I’ll need to sort it out against Camden otherwise it won’t last very long,” said Smart, who has not taken a game off the World No.1 in their 4 previous encounters. The other semifinal is an all-Australian affair and promises to be mouthwatering between the seeds 2 and 3, Nick Howell and Steve Virgona. This will be a rematch of the 2023 final, where Howell beat his compatriot 6-5, 6-5, 6-1. Both Aussies managed to get out of tough situations in the semis: World No.3 Nick Howell was 2 sets to 1 and 3-1 down before winning 11 of the 12 games against World No.16 Levi Gale – “I saw myself losing, I just thought I needed to go for my shots and make him win this” said the 38-year old – while World No.6 Virgona clinched a crucial 10-minute game at 1 set all 5-all against Robert Shenkman, after being 40-down. “Rob is a class player with an usual style, and it took some getting used to,” said Virgona, who turned 46 on Wednesday.
Steve Virgona
➡️ MEN’S SINGLES
Semifinals, Thursday
2:30pm: [1] Camden Rivière 🇺🇸 🆚 [4] Leon Smart 🇬🇧
4:30pm: [3] Steve Virgona 🇦🇺 🆚 [2] Nick Howell 🇦🇺
Quarterfinals
[1] Camden Rivière 🇺🇸 bt [6] Mathieu Sarlangue 🇫🇷: 3-0 (6-0, 6-0, 6-3)
[4] Leon Smart 🇬🇧 bt [7] Lewis Williams 🇬🇧 : 3-1 (6-2, 3-6, 6-5, 6-3)
[3] Steve Virgona 🇦🇺 bt [5] Robert Shenkman 🇬🇧: 3-1 (2-6, 6-1, 6-5, 6-2)
[2] Nick Howell 🇦🇺 bt [8] Levi Gale 🇬🇧: 3-2 (3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1)
Round of 16
[1] Camden Rivière 🇺🇸 bt Baudouin Huynh-Lenhardt 🇫🇷: 3-0 (6-1, 6-1, 6-0)
[6] Mathieu Sarlangue 🇫🇷 bt Benjamin Jacquin-Turrettini 🇫🇷: 3-0 (6-2, 6-0, 6-4)
[7] Lewis Williams 🇬🇧 bt Henry Henman 🇬🇧: 3-2 (6-1, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-5)
[4] Leon Smart 🇬🇧 bt Louis Gordon 🇬🇧: 3-0 (6-2, 6-1, 6-1)
[3] Steve Virgona 🇦🇺 bt Bertie Vallat 🇬🇧: 3-0 (6-2, 6-5, 6-3)
[5] Robert Shenkman 🇬🇧 bt John Woods-Casey 🇦🇺: 3-0 (6-5, 6-4, 6-2)
[8] Levi Gale 🇬🇧 bt Vaughan Hamilton 🇬🇧: 3-0 (6-2, 6-3, 6-3)
[2] Nick Howell 🇦🇺 bt Nicolas Victoir 🇫🇷: 3-0 (6-3, 6-0, 6-1)
➡️ WOMEN’S SINGLES
Quarterfinals (Thursday)
[1] Claire Fahey 🇬🇧 – bye
9:30am: [5] Saskia Bollerman 🇳🇱 🆚 [4] Jess Garside 🇬🇧
To follow: [3] Katherine Carney 🇬🇧 🆚 [6] Georgie Ingham 🇬🇧
[2] Léa Van der Zwalmen 🇫🇷 – bye
