Hamilton takes inaugural Moore Family Office Summer Challenge title
Long's railroad game falters at final hurdle
Vaughan Hamilton has become the inaugural Moore Family Office Summer Challenge champion, after defeating Darren Long in four sets at the Oratory on Friday night.
After three weeks of play, the contenders were whittled down to two. Vaughan Hamilton had survived a back-and-forth, three-set battle against Lewis Williams in the first round, a tight tussle against fellow Prested professional Levi Gale in the quarter-final and an impressive straight sets victory over Ben Taylor-Matthews in the semi-final. Darren Long reached the final courtesy of a come-from-behind win over Neil Mackenzie in the first round, before beating Bryn Sayers and Robert Fahey in the following rounds while receiving handicap. The two had recently fought at the US Professional Singles satellite not a month prior, with Hamilton emerging the victor in straight sets.
Hamilton owed 1/4 15 to Long for the best of five set battle in front of a crowd filled with Oratory and Moreton Morrell members — the latter seeing their home professional playing one of their best performing alumni of recent years. Long continued the strategy he had employed successfully throughout the tournament to date: serve railroads on both the first and second serves, keep the ball tight on the battery wall and illicit a response he could slam at the grille. From the receiving end, Long would target a chase as quickly as possible to continue his railroad strategy. Hamilton, meanwhile, tried to survive the early risk and get into a longer rally, where he would more often than not prove the victor.
The tug of war battle between the strategies played out in a similar fashion across all four of the sets played. The early games were often exchanged between the players evenly, before a slight advantage midway through the set cascaded through to a set victory. In the first set, that cascade went the way of Long, putting in a long serving stint while keeping his railroad extremely tight. By the second set, Hamilton was starting to develop an edge as Long’s railroad wavered ever so slightly. His lead on the scoreboard was helped by a very untimely second serve railroad fault on a 40-all game point early in the set. Hamilton capitalised, controlling the rallies from both ends of the court with hard-hitting forcing and excellent placement.
The decisive moment in the third set came at 2-all, 40-all. With a ball falling off the penthouse, Hamilton was threatening to line up for the large Oratory tambour once again. Long looked to pre-empt Hamilton’s shot moving up to a volleying position in front of the tambour. Hamilton noticed Long’s movement out of the corner of his eye, pulling back the length of his shot to boast across Long into the forehand corner for a winner. From there, Hamilton never looked back, quickly firming his foothold in the set until he crossed the finish line. The fourth set had a similar decisive moment at 3-2 to Hamilton. Playing a second gallery chase, Long went for a high back wall shot, aiming for a deep hazard chase, just as Hamilton had been playing successfully all match. However, Long’s shot struck even above the high Oratory back wall, giving a crucial break to Hamilton at a moment Long could ill afford to concede. From that moment, Hamilton once again ran away with the set, winning the match in four sets.
“First time I’ve ever won anything, but hopefully I’ll get used to it,” said Hamilton after the match. Hamilton and Long are due to cross paths again later this month in the Champions Trophy qualifying.
Match results:
Friday 6PM: Darren Long (Love) lost to Vaughan Hamilton (Owe 1/4 15) 6/3 3/6 3/6 3/6