It’s Moseley-Williams Part 4.
Local tennis’ best rivalry will take centre stage again Monday night after Russell Moseley and Seanon Williams advanced to yet another National Championship title game showdown following contrasting straight sets wins Thursday at the National Tennis Centre, Wildey.
Surviving an early scare in the first set, the second-seeded Williams battled back from a 1-4 deficit to whip Renaldo Gibson 6-4, 6-2 before No.1 Moseley outlasted seasoned player Damien Applewhaite 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the other men’s semi-final.
It’s the fourth time in five years the Davis Cup teammates will be meeting to decide the singles championship following three straight matchups between 2009 and 2011.
But Moseley, who lost three of those finals before breaking through last year, didn’t have the look of a man seeking another finals appearance after falling into 0-3 holes in both sets.
Applewhaite just never had the weapons to consolidate either advantage, succumbing to Moseley’s deft slices and huge forehand winners that dominated the second part of each set.
Nowhere was Moseley’s supremacy more evident than in the second set, when the defending champ seemingly took over the match at will off a series of passing shots from the middle of the court.
This was after Applewhaite had capitalized on some key unforced errors to break the top seed in each of his two service games and set up the chance to serve for a 4-0 cushion.
However, Moseley came up with a swinging forehand volley to break Applewhaite at love on the way to winning three straight games that levelled the set at 3-3.
Applewhaite wasn’t done just yet, producing arguably the shot of the match on a running backhand crosscourt winner to break Moseley in the very next game.
It was about all the fight he had left in him, though, as Moseley rattled off the next three games without bother, ripping one forehand pass after another.
“My concentration just wasn’t there early on,” said Moseley, of that slow start to the second set.
“At least, I was able to recognize after I had lost focus and to bring it back.”
It was a carbon copy of the first set in which Applewhaite had pounced on the error-riddled champ to break early and consolidate for a quick 3-0 lead.
But Moseley subsequently held at love before breaking back following two double faults from Applewhaite to put the set on an even keel.
He even had a chance to serve for the set after breaking Applewhaite again, but squandered two set points before his opponent forced a tiebreak off a pinpoint backhand pass on the run.
However, Applewhaite fell into a quick 1-4 deficit via a series of forehand errors before Moseley eventually closed out with yet another big forehand winner down the line.
Earlier, Gibson threatened to come up with a major upset after breaking Williams twice for a big 4-1 lead. But Gibson fell apart, particularly on the backhand side, while Williams rattled off five straight games to take the first set and set the tone for the next.
Gibson never mustered any challenge thereafter and Williams cruised into his fifth final in six years.