Rex conquered his nerves and Ariel Picones to qualify for the finals for the 1st time. He won the match after an hour and 20 minutes of intense play.
Rex started shaky serving a double fault on the first point of the match coupled with few unforced errors that cost him an early break. Ariel started things right hitting an ace on his first service game and holding on to his serve to lead at 2-0. Looking more settled, Ariel is dictating the points early and got 2 break points again in the 3rd game before Rex dig deep and saved them to get him on board. Ariel continues to play impressively cracking forehand winners and aces all over the court. Rex on the other hand has a problem reading Ariel's thunderous 1st serve and "glorious" forehand that makes it difficult for Rex to stay on the rally. It was a psychological moment for Rex when he finds himself 1-3 down in the 1st set in just a blink.
With a change of racquet in the 5th game, Rex slowly regained his composure as he start to return serve with pace and match Ariel's groundstrokes point by point. He then took the next 2 games to level at 3 games all. Ariel seems to be unfazed as he keep things going for him capitalizing on Rex's second serve whacking them for winners. He broke Rex's serve right back to hold on to his lead at 4-3. But after a long deuce in the 8th game, Rex took the break back when he hit a sharp forehand that Ariel was unable to return. Rex proved to be more in control now holding his serve confidently to put him in the lead for the first time at 5-4. Ariel is serving to stay in the set when nerves begin to show. His forehand is going out of control and a costly double fault give Rex 3 set points. Rex closed out the 1st set with a well placed topspin lob when he saw Ariel approached the net.
An inspired Rex opened the second set with a good service game. Ariel appears to be devastated by the outcome of the 1st set. His much dependable serve and forehand start to desert him especially on the key points. With unforced errors accumulating, its difficult for him to keep up the pace he started. Rex continues to play effectively cutting down his errors and taking command on most of the points. The match was over not long when Ariel dumped a forehand to the net. The final score, 6-4 6-0 to Rex.
Rex will meet Michael Castro in the finals. This will be the first meeting of the two. Get all the action this Saturday at Eastpoint Green, Simei. See you there...