The Silver Hill tennis court became the Orion Nebula for one hour on Sunday night as the fans were spellbound by the possible birth of a new star and the spectacular death of an old one.
At the end of the display all was returned to normal in the tennis galaxy as veteran Julian “Michael Jackson” White blazed super nova to burn away the threat from dwarf star Emar Edwards 7-21, 21-18, 21-18. White, who won the 2016 Silver Hill crown will meet defending champion Antonio “Lil Man” Daniel in Thursday’s finals.
Fresh from blasting the brightest star Mark “Venom” Griffith from the firmament, University of the West Indies student Edwards started with great confidence eclipsing White with tremendous rallies and clinching finishes. White never looked the player who has won more titles than anyone else in road tennis history.
Edwards, who has never outshone White in competition, looked the superior element as he flared from 9-4 to 15-4 with White looking ordinary. The feared “World Boss” looked sub-par when Edwards snatched the 14th point by battling for 25 rallies before punching through White’s backhand with disdain.
“Holding” an ignominious sow in the first game, White went into crouching tiger style to jump to 6-3 in the second game as impatience saw Edwards attempting to attack and win early points. Resuming his patient game, Edwards caught White at 10 and went up 12-10 with a ground-eating serve defeating White.
White locked the scores at 12 and moved to 15-12 before Edwards caught him again. However, with both players executing some breathtaking shots, White established and maintained a two points lead to even the contest and set up the decider.
Edwards changed his shirt and apparently his fortunes as White jumped to an 8-1 lead. Battling a resurgent White and cramp, Edwards fought back to 7-10 and from 8-12 he took the lead at 13-12. Following a 30-ball rally of unbelievable returns Edwards scored his sixth unanswered point with a smoking line shot to stun White 14-12.
Edwards continued his ascendency going to 16-13 before the wily White recognising Edwards’ cramping right leg began punching the ball farther and farther right to lock the scores at 17 and 18. From there the grandmaster played the better end game as White quickly captured the next two points to end the epic battle.
There were no such fireworks in the preceding games as women’s champion Kim Holder easily despatched Juliet Worrell 21-13, 21-11 to meet Abigail Haynes in the finals. Ezekiel “Ezee” Ward will defend his 17 and under crown after he defeated Shakeem Nurse 21-11, 21-13.
Nicolas “Nik-Nik” Ellis, who will play Adrian “Howlie” Walker in Thursday’s in-house finals, will also battle fellow southpaw Ward in the 17 and under finals. On Sunday night Ellis advanced by stopping The Lodge School six-footer Mosia Williams 21-13, 21-13. (KB)