YOUTH will definitely be served in today’s final.
No, not Kaipo Marshall.
Promising 18-year-old Xavier Lawrence has made a real case for national selection after upsetting Davis Cup player Adam Hornby yesterday to reach the Top 8 Invitational Tennis Tournament final at the National Tennis Centre.
The result set up a Group 2 rematch with seasoned Davis Cup veteran Seanon Williams, who navigated a long rain delay before shutting the book on Marshall’s fairytale run with a 6-4, 7-5 victory.
That 90-minute break nearly proved fatal for Lawrence too, but the Prairie View sophomore overcame that second-set hiccup to win a drama-filled 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 affair.
Marshall almost made things interesting at the unofficial Davis Cup trials, using the lengthy delay to his advantage by winning four straight on the match’s resumption.
Already down a set and a break 6-4, 2-1, the 15-year-old boy wonder immediately broke back when Williams double faulted after missing two routine forehands.
Marshall promptly capitalised by holding with two great serves out wide before breaking again for 4-2 following another series of Williams’ unforced errors.
The talented teen then held once more to go up 5-2 and set up a certain third set.
But the wheels fell right off from there once the more seasoned Williams decided to take the pace off the ball.
The seasoned campaigner also went for broke on his second serve too to finally hold for 3-5 before Marshall couldn’t find the range on his forehand and lost serve.
Williams then levelled the set at 5-5 with some more booming serves prior to Marshall’s complete meltdown.
With Williams opting to merely put the ball back into play, Marshall struggled with the timing on his forehand to lose serve again at 5-6.
Williams quickly put away the match with even more big serves to end Marshall’s storybook run.
It was nothing like the opening set, where Marshall squandered six early break points on Williams’ first three service games.
Williams then set up the only break of the match at 4-3 when Marshall went wide and long on subsequent backhands.
The match looked to be all but over from there, as Marshall blew two more break points early in second when Williams was serving down 0-1.
And as luck would have it Marshall got broken immediately afterwards by misjudging two volleys and hitting a subsequent forehand long.
However, Williams’ victory charge was stalled by the most untimely of rain breaks.
Earlier, Marshall’s older sister Kiana advanced to the women’s final by outlasting talented teenager Gabrielle Leslie 7-6 (0), 6-3 to set up a championship contest with Hannah Chambers, who downed Melena Lopez 6-2, 6-1. (JM)
