Russell Moseley wasn’t kidding when he said he longed to renew tennis’ best rivalry.
He certainly didn’t miss much else.
Landing an usually high percentage of first serves while whistling winners from everywhere, Moseley went one up in his riveting matchup with Seanon Williams after sweeping to a 6-3, 6-3 victory in yesterday’s Courtesy Garage Top Eight final at the Ocean View courts.
It was the second title in as many tournaments for the dreadlocked second seed, who has now met the top-ranked Williams in six of the last eight major finals.
The win also guaranteed Moseley the coveted Race of Champions crown after the two Davis Cup hopefuls entered the finale of the eight-tournament series with an identical 135 points.
There wasn’t anything else even on the day though as the local No.2 picked an early break in both sets while moving around his overmatched opponent on seemingly every point.
Ironically, it was Moseley who looked likely of cracking first after quickly falling behind 15-40 on his opening service game of the match.
However, he managed to save both break points via an ace down the tee and a lusty forehand passing shot before Williams gifted him the game on successive unforced errors.
And Moseley immediately made the top seed pay for those wasted opportunities, coming up with four telling returns from either side as Williams meekly surrendered his serve at 15 to fall behind 2-1.
He wasn’t even allowed the chance to get back in the set either, not with Moseley coming up with passing shots almost at will – none better than a stand-and-deliver forehand winner up the line.
Moseley wasn’t done yet either, capitalizing on the break to go up 5-3 before producing a stunning backhand return winner on his third set point to break Williams again.
The match was all but over just ten minutes into the ensuing set, with Moseley coming up with a pair of easy holds at love to sandwich yet another break where Williams double-faulted twice.
So dominant was the second seed’s performance from there that Williams managed just two points on Moseley’s serve the rest of the way before losing the day’s final game at love.
“Every once in a while one of us comes out really hot and you get one of these matches . . . I’m just thankful that it was me today,” said Moseley of the straight sets win.
“I just got in a groove and went out to dominate the points from the start because you don’t want to be chasing down balls when he gets going. I decided to have a go because there’s really nothing to lose.”
The final serves as the last match for the two top-ranked players ahead of a probable Davis Cup call-up for next month’s historic Group II tie against Paraguay at the National Tennis Centre.
