LOSING is just not a part of Russell Moseley’s repertoire.
The man who did nothing but win last year has started 2013 in the same vein after surviving older brother Ryan Moseley and a one-set deficit to reach the final of the FirstCaribbean Tennis Championships via yesterday’s 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory at the Ocean View Courts.
It’s the seventh successive major final appearance for the younger Moseley, who failed to drop a single match in a near flawless 2012 season that saw the top seed win six tournaments including his first national crown.
But the streak looked likely to come to a disastrous end when Russell surrendered two early breaks and a lopsided first-set contest where he suffered a complete meltdown.
At one stage the younger Moseley just handed his brother points, angrily spraying groundstrokes onto the surrounding fencing while Ryan coasted to a one-set lead.
However, he too quickly lost focus as Russell began to build momentum, both committing unforced errors in an inexplicable lacklustre showing.
Russell rattled off the first five games of the second set, breaking his brother twice before Ryan eventually avoided the bagel by holding on in the set’s sixth game with a huge ace.
That service game was about the only success Ryan would enjoy for the remainder of the match as Russell broke him again to start the third set as part of an initial 3-1 lead.
Ryan briefly threatened thereafter, hitting a huge forehand crosscourt return winner as Russell fell behind 15-30 on a subsequent service game.
But Russell set up a big passing shot of his own, whipping a lusty forehand down the line on the very next point before holding for a 4-2 advantage on a pair of crucial service winners.
And the top seed set up a pair of match points off a similarly huge forehand winner before Ryan’s double fault provided an anticlimactic end to the match.
Earlier, New Zealand-based Richard Hornby outlasted his upset-minded younger brother Adam 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 to advance to today’s semi-final against top-ranked pro Darian King.
In the first ever showdown between the Hornby siblings, Richard threatened to turn the historic contest into a laugh after registering two early breaks in a rather one-sided first set.
And the match seemed headed for a certain tiebreak when Richard fought off a 0-30 hole before holding for 5-5.
However, Adam eventually got that break two games later, taking advantage of two unforced errors from his older brother before producing a fantastic lob on the second of two set points.
It proved the extent of Adam’s resistance as Richard broke him twice within the first seven games of the third set for a crucial 5-2 lead.
Richard almost gave back one of those breaks while serving for the set and falling behind 0-30, but Adam couldn’t handle the next two first serves before dumping a simple volley in the net at match point.
