John Lumley won his first US Open title at Westwood Country Club this year, battling past Camden Riviere, who had held the singles title for twelve consecutive championships. Lumley’s victory followed his strong performance at Westwood in the prior World Championship, where Riviere won out. Lumley came back from two sets down with his usual unflappable play, while Riviere was plagued by injury in the last set. The match was the fifth time the two have played in open finals and marked Lumley’s first victory.
The match capped 10 days of astonishing play, beginning with several days of qualifiers that frequently featured packed viewing areas. Particularly notable in the singles rounds was the play of one Rob Fahey, who celebrated his third or fourth retirement from professional singles with a five-set semi-final match against Lumley. (Watch that astounding match here). We will watch Mr. Fahey’s continued retirement with interest.
According to game statistician Ben Geytenbeek, Lumley is the second person to beat Riviere in the last 11 and a half years (try to guess the other), and the first outside a World Championship Final. It was Riviere’s first defeat in an Open competition since the 2013 Australian Open final against Steve Virgona, and breaks a string of 12 consecutive US Open titles. It was Lumley’s second career win over Riviere, the previous coming in a USCTA National League match in 2013. It puts Lumley one step closer to winning a career Grand Slam — he is yet to win a French Open.
The match was briefly interrupted by power cuts caused by high winds, which caused the lights to fail during two points and required Tournament Director Vern Peterson-Cassin to call a five minute emergency time out. Riviere separately took an injury time out due to a worsening hamstring issue. Despite these short pauses, the players kept up a furious pace throughout the extraordinary five set final.
The match featured packed galleries, with supporters for both players and many there to applaud great tennis. Riviere has been touring professional for Westwood since 2022 and had enthusiastic support in the dedans, particularly from Chase Motz, who set off decibel alerts on every Apple Watch in the galleries. Lumley, too, enjoys great support at Westwood, not only for his play, but for his sportsmanship and manner both on and off the court. The proximity to Philadelphia did not hurt, as a strong contingent of Philadelphia players, led by Club Representative Tim Carroll, made the trek down for the weekend.
The match marked the first ever US Open match for Washington, which had never hosted the event at their prior location. With a successful event and large prize pool, Westwood has now been admitted to the cycle and is looking forward to hosting the event again in several years.
For those of you who didn’t watch watch the US Open matches live at Westwood Country Club, every match can viewed on the USCTA YouTube channel.On Sunday, Camden Riviere and Tim Chisholm won the US Open doubles championship Vs Steve Virgona and John Lumley 6/1 5/6 6/4 6/2
Riviere and Chisholm were at their most dominant in the fourth set, as Virgona and Lumley struggled for ideas. Chisholm took over duties at the back of the court, a signature of the confidence that Riviere was feeling in the match. After dropping a couple of games, Riviere returned to the back, which was enough to see them home to their 13th consecutive US Open title, and 14th overall as a pair.
“Westwood, what a great week,” said Chisholm. I probably got 30 texts this morning wondering if he (Camden) was even going to play today. We toughed it out. Well done, Cam, I appreciate it.”
Photos by Caroline Marney
