Friday, March 29, 2024

Williams cruises to easy victory

Date:

Share post:

Local?tennis’ best rivalry sure doesn’t resemble one right now.
So much for that epic National Championships final as second seed Seanon Williams coasted to yet another men’s open title with a 6-2, 6-2 demolition of long-time adversary and defending champ Russell Moseley on Monday at the National Tennis Centre, Wildey.
It was anything but another of the classic championship matches local fans were eagerly awaiting when the Davis Cup teammates advanced to their fourth National final match-up in five years.
In the end, Williams simply cruised to his fifth national title in just under 90 minutes, having never trailed in either set to improve to 4-0 all-time against Moseley in these finals.
“It always feels good to win [the National Championships] and whenever I play Russell, I most often bring off my A-game,” said Williams of the victory.
“I can’t say I was clicking on all cylinders, though, because everything didn’t go to plan, but I’ve been working on my consistency a lot and that worked to my advantage.”
Nothing went Moseley’s way on the other side of the net. The out-of-sorts top seed routinely missed easy forehands from the baseline while dropping two of his first three service games to fall in a quick 1-5 hole.
Williams then appeared well on his way to wrapping up the first set with a 40-15 cushion on his serve before firing four double faults in that game to give Moseley back one of the breaks.
“I have a mental problem being up 5-1 or 5-2 and it’s something I’m working on, but it’s still an issue for me because I start to put pressure on myself,” Williams admitted.
But just as the momentum started to swing in Moseley’s favour, he too, broke down, visibly being frustrated with the amount of time Williams was taking to settle between points.
Words were even exchanged between the two at one point until Moseley finally served while Williams had yet to get into position to return on the ad court.
“It’s kind of funny, because when we’re training, I advised Seanon that he should take his time more between points because he rushes too much, but I felt he went a little overboard with it because there is an allotted time,” said Moseley.
“I guess it bothered me for the mere fact that I needed to change something as I was down.
“If the score was reversed it probably wouldn’t have bothered me, but nothing against Seanon because he is my good friend.”
Moseley went on to lose that game, and the set, angrily dumping a forehand in the net before seemingly calming down on the other side of the break to hold at 1-1 in the second set.
However, Williams held easily following a pristine inside-out forehand winner prior to breaking his opponent by capitalizing on some more unforced errors by Moseley on the way to a 4-1 lead.
Moseley did have his chance to get back in the match though, with Williams falling behind 0-30 before facing a break point off a delightful Moseley overhead which he set up off a pinpoint drop shot.
But Williams saved that break point after yet another missed forehand from Moseley, and then closed out the game for a 5-2 cushion by coming in behind a booming first serve.
A five-minute rain delay only served to stall the inevitable before Moseley meekly surrendered his serve by dumping an overhead on his side of the court then double-faulting on match point.

Previous article
Next article

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Related articles

No decision yet on Lester Vaughan School

A firm decision has not yet been made regarding when the Lester Vaughan School will be reopened. Following a...

BDF to conduct simulation exercise on April 2 & 3

The Barbados Defence Force (BDF) will conduct a Mass Casualty Simulation Exercise from Tuesday, April 2, to Wednesday,...

Barbadians reminded to file taxes online as filing season starts

The Barbados Revenue Authority (the BRA) is advising that tax filing season for 2023 begins on April 1 this...

Minister Abrahams’ statement on Ismail Patel’s passing

Below is the full statement by Minister of Home Affairs and Information, Wilfred Abrahams: I was saddened to...