THE BEST of local tennis might be getting better still.
Make that another final for Russell Moseley after the top seed literally served up one of his best performances by hitting 11 aces in a 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory over older brother Ryan Moseley in Thursday’s semi-finals of the Christopher Howitt Tournament at the Ocean View courts.
It was easily a career-best serving effort for the national No.1, who didn’t drop more than two points in any service game and did not face a single break point.
“I felt like I’ve been rushing my serve a bit so after Nationals I made a slight adjustment and now for the last two weeks I’ve been bombing serves better than ever and hitting spots,” said Russell.
Not that he was too shabby on the other end either, as the top-ranked Moseley used a series of stunning backhand returns to take two service games off his sibling in the opening set, including the very first game of the match.
Ryan didn’t win a single point on serve to start, not after his younger brother ripped a ridiculous backhand passing shot up the line off an equally mammoth first serve.
The elder Moseley looked to have settled down after trailing 3-1 and surviving yet another break opportunity, but Russell merely fired two aces to hold at love before breaking again for a 5-2 advantage.
Russell did fall behind 0-30 while serving for the set, though, only to come up with another pair of aces, including one out-wide from the ad court on set point.
His older sibling managed to make a game of it in the second set, however, cleverly mixing in some deft top-spin serves while coming in behind the bigger serves for easy volley winners.
And Russell still almost broke him early in that set too, hitting another crosscourt backhand return passing shot before slapping a near-impossible one-handed winner off that same end while running off the court.
But Ryan nevertheless held for a 2-1 lead by coming up with two service winners before the two traded service games and passing shots from the baseline alike in a great display of shot-making.
It was almost a case of the brothers trying to outdo one another as Ryan seemingly produced the shot of the match off a one-handed backhand return down the line before the younger Moseley went one better with an acute angle inside-out winner off the forehand side.
Russell eventually held on for the win when Ryan had a couple of unforced errors in the ensuing tie-break, including a mishit forehand that went into the net on match point.
The top-ranked Moseley was slated to play second seed Andrew Thornton in last night’s final after No. 6 Christopher King couldn’t continue their semi-final match while trailing 4-6, 4-0.
Other results
Men’s 35s:
No.1 Alan Grogar bt. Jeremy John 6-3, 6-1.
No.4 Raymond Forde bt. No.5 Oneal Marshall 6-4, 3-6, 10-8.
No.2 Maurice Waldron bt. Alan Smith 6-2, 6-2.
No.3 Richard Marshall bt. Michael Wharton 6-0, 6-1.
Men’s 45s:
Alan Groger bt. no.1 George Grant 6-0, 6-1.
No.4 Adrian Brancker bt. Colin Murray 7-6, 6-3.
No.2 Raymond Forde bt. Harry McKensie 7-5, 6-1.
No.3 John Wilson bt. Roger Miller 6-4, 6-3.
