There was no hint of the drama to come when Michael Venus held serve comfortably to start the doubles semi-final at the Japan Open when he and Jamie Murray played Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow. It was the sixth time that the pairs had clashed this year, with Venus and Murray beating them in the finals in Dallas and Zhuhai, but the overall head to head was only 3-2 going into last night. Withrow served next, losing his second point to a beautiful forehand drop volley from Venus, and the New Zealander brought up the first break points of the match when he hit a beautiful forehand return into the tramlines. Murray’s forehand return of the next point went wide, and Lammons got them to deuce with a nice angled forehand volley before winning the deciding point with a better one.
Lammons started Murray’s first game with a beautiful forehand return down the tramlines, but the real highlight was a fabulous angled backhand volley from Venus to end the first great rally in the match. Withrow hit two gorgeous volleys to help his partner win the next game, and then took Venus to deuce with a nice backhand winner through the middle of the court. Disaster struck for Venus when double faulted to lose the deciding point, because everyone knows how difficult it is to retrieve breaks of serve at this level. That seemed to be borne out by the next rotation of serve going without a hint of a break point, although the Americans each had a highlight shot when Venus served again. Withrow hit a fabulous backhand return through the left side of the court before his partner thumped away a beautiful overhead backhand volley, but they were the only points lost in the game.
All of that meant that Withrow was now serving for the set, but a double fault meant that he would have to save a break point first. He did that with a great serve to Venus, whose backhand return disappeared over the baseline to bring up the first set point. Withrow then copied the New Zealander by double faulting to lose the decider, and holds to love by Murray and Lammons took them to a tie-break. A fabulous inside-out forehand winner from Venus off Withrow got the first mini-break, and things looked worse for the American when Venus won the great rally on Murray’s first point by hitting an inside-out forehand volley into Withrow’s face from only about three metres away. Withrow dropped like a stone, and there was real concern for his welfare before he got up to resume play. He was really lucky that the rally had been all around the net, so none of the shots, including the winning one, had been hit with any great power.
A double fault from Lammons doubled the deficit before they changed ends, and he smacked an angry ace down the middle to Murray once they swapped over. Withrow got into more strife on the next point when he pointlessly chased after a cross-court volley from Venus that he was never going to reach, and crashed into and over the courtside advertising hoardings. To add even more to his woes, that gave Venus and Murray four set points. Venus blew the first one with another double fault before Withrow won both his points, but another overhead volley from Venus converted the fourth attempt to end the set after 51 minutes.
Lammons ended the opening game of the second set with an ace before Venus had a nightmare game, being broken to love with an unforced error in play, a double fault and two forced errors. He did hit a fantastic cross-court backhand return of serve off Withrow next up, the ball landing right on the sideline. That was good enough to have been the shot of the match in most events – but not in this one. Murray had time to hit a beautiful cross-court forehand return off Lammons before Venus served again, and his second double fault in the game was followed by a fabulous backhand return down the tramlines from Withrow to get to deuce. He wasn’t as calculating when he returned the deciding point, thumping a cross-court backhand over the baseline and then unsuccessfully challenging the serve.
Withrow then held serve again in a game which featured a fantastic 16 shot rally. Venus knew as soon as he had hit the final shot that it was going long, and that was where his return of the final serve in the game went as well. That left Murray serving to stay in the set, but he double faulted after Lammons had won the opening point with a beautiful cross-court forehand lob. Another error gave the Americans three set points, but Venus saved the first with a beautiful cross-court backhand volley. Withrow’s return of the next serve went into the net, but he converted the third attempt with a fantastic backhand return down the tramlines. The set had taken 28 minutes, and that would take them to an epic match tie-break.
Murray’s return of Lammons’ opening serve went into the net, and the Americans got an immediate mini-break through Withrow’s fabulous cross-court backhand return off Venus, but the New Zealander won his second point by ending a good rally with a smash. Lammons gave back the mini-break when he was forced to hit an overhead volley into the net, but a double fault from Murray became the third lost point before they changed ends. The point which followed featured smashes galore, and it ended when Venus finally got one cleanly away. A great return from Murray forced Lammons to hit a forehand into the net to cancel out the second mini-break before Murray grabbed the lead with what really was the shot of the match, an incredible charge across the front of the net to hit a forehand volley to win Withrow’s first point and give them the lead as they changed ends for the second time.
Murray doubled the lead by hitting a fabulous inside-out forehand return to win Withrow’s second point as well, and an inside-out backhand volley from Venus gave them four match points. Murray lost the first when he was forced into an error on a backhand volley before Lammons won both his points, and the lead disappeared when Murray hit a backhand volley into the net. That took them to the third change of ends, and a smash from Murray to end a fantastic rally gave them a fifth match point. Venus blew that one with a cross-court backhand lob that went wide, but his smash won Withrow’s second point to give them a sixth chance to close it out. Venus was again guilty of an unforced error, this time hitting an inside-out backhand volley wide, but an ace from Murray gave them a seventh match point. Lammons replied in kind by acing Venus, and again they were all square when they changed ends.
The incredible rally which came on the next point lasted for 17 shots, and at least it didn’t end with an unforced error. Withrow was jammed into an inside-out backhand volley, which went wide, and that gave Venus and Murray their eighth match point. They finally got over the line when Venus smashed away the winning volley. The final score was 7-6 (5), 2-6, 14-12, and the match had lasted an hour and 45 minutes.