LAWN TENNIS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 10, 12 January 1934, Page 10

LAWN TENNIS.

DOMINION CHAMPIONSHIPS REVIEWED. AUSTRALIAN LADIES SUPREME (By HALF-VOLLEY.) The Dominion Championship meeting hae now been concluded, having been played under weather conditions which were probably as bad as those of any previous meeting. Concurrently with the championships the Wilding Shield and Nunneley Casket matches were played ae preliminaries to the main tournament. While, this is a convenient arrangement from the point of view of finance and loet time, it appears more and more doubtful whether the strain of playing four and possibly eight shield matches before the main tournament is not too heavy a burden to impose upon the leading interprovincial players. Reviewing the shield and casket jmatches and'the results of the championships as a whole, two or three lessons stand out from the match results. First there is the supremacy of Malfroy among New Zealand players; then there is the decided weakness of the New Zealand women players compared with the standard set by the Australian competiI tors; lastly there is the failure oi Auckland to roach the final of either of the Wilding Shield on Nunneley Casket competition. Malfroy Supreme. The win oi C. Ji. Mulfi'oy in the men's bingiee chauipionsnip will be generally uccuilined througuout New Zealand as placing Malfroy as definitely comparable to Australia s leading piayew, ami u maji be usoumed that hu would have to be ranked about sixth in any Australasian ranking, liis victory over iJproule is the victory ut ait attacking voliuyer over a deiensive bane-line player. Sproule'e strength lies in his penect position on the court and his exquisitely controlled cut drives, to which Mulfroy'e verve and energy at the net present a perfect contrast. The mutch was strenuously contested, going to live acts. During the tournament Malfroy defeated tjturt ( twice), iJartlect, and Barnett without the lose* of a ect, and then beat Uonohoe, .losing one set, and Sproule, losing two sets. He was defeated in the Wilding Shield match by Angae in a very closely contested match, B—-10, 4—G, but this was his only loss. C. Angas, of Canterbury, ie the only player to score a win against Malfroy. in the championship he easily defeated Rowlands, t> — 2, ii—'J, o—l, lo enter the quarter-filial, where he met Sproule, from whom he took u set in a well-fought match. Angas hud one-other loss, however, in the Wilding Shield, where he lost to J)erkin«s on the hist day s play. Ferkins Much Improved. The improvement of tne Wellington second string, K. AlcL. FeiKins, was one ui the niosi remai'KabJe features of the tournament. Perkins, who won the New Zealand Junior Ciiampioiieuip us loug ago us VJ2H— Hie year allci , Auurc",>s won has been slow to fulfil the promise oi that pet'formance, but in thw tournament he has definitely jumped into the lirst halfdozen piuyers in New Zeulanu. His defeat oi iiartleet on the opening day of tlie Wilding Shield match paved the way for Wellington's victory in that competition, and lie followed this up by beating both Angae and JJaruett in hard three-set matches —a really iirst class performance. He was defeated by Sturt, 7— o, 7—!), 2—6. in the championships he lost to Malfroy, from whom he took a set. Another steadily improving Wellington player of whom more will certainly be heard in the near future is E. A. Kouseell, who beat both Morrison ana Kowlaude in the Wilding Shield without losing a eet. He subsequently beat W. Kobinson (Canterbury), o—3, (i—3, but lost to Dymond. In the championships he was defeated by Sproule in straight sete.

Barnett (Canterbury) did not enhance hie record at the tournament. In the Wilding Shield matches he lost to Malfroy and also to Ferkins, while in the championships his defensive tactics were not good enough to etop the attacking game of Jbonohoe. Dymond Consistent. H. Dymond, the young Canterbury player, proved himself something oi a " giant-killer." In the Wilding Shield mate-hen he did well to defeat both Howe and Houssell, and in the championships he followed up this good etart by successively defeating Lowvy, Bartlcet, and Morrison in long live set matches. He was ultimately defeated by Andrews in straight sete. The showing of the Auckland team was disappointing, to put it mildly. Bartleet was defeated Dy both Maltroy and Perkins in the Wilding Shield, and was put out by Dymond m the championships before reaching the quarter-final, bturt lost to Maltroy in the shield contest, but played well to defeat Ferkins. in the championships he lost to Maltroy in straight sets, and may perhaps be accounted uiuortunute in meeting the champion so early as the quarter-hnal. Morrison beat Lowe in tlie sliield match, but loet to Koussell. in the championships he barely survived a n'veset match with \V. iiobinsou (Canterbury) to lose to Dymond in live sets. Kowlauds beat Howe, but lost to Koussell in the shield, and in the championships was unable to cope with the finished game of Angas. Women's Matches Reviewed. The first lesson which stands out from the women's mutches is the ease with which, the Australian Jadies' team played their way through the tournament. None of the four Australians seems to have lost a match to a New Zealand player so far, and the only one of them to lose a eet to a New Zealand opponent was Miss Valkenberg, who dropped a set to Mrs. Dykes and to Miss T. Poole.

Of the New Zealand players, three stand out head and shoulders above the others—Mrs. Dykes, Miss D. Nicholle, and Miss Marjorie Macfarlane, while Miss T. Poole, the hard-hitting youn-j; Canterbury player, played herself into the Sew Zealand team ae ite fourth member on the results of the tournament. Mre. Dykee seems to retain the vigour and finish of her game; her record k an impressive one. In the casket matches she defeated Mies Marjorie Macfarlane, Miss Newton, Miss Wake, and Miss Poole without the loes oi a set, and followed this up in the championships by defeating Mrs. Napier, Mrs. Adams, and Miss Wake, before losing in the semi-final to Miss Valkenberg, S—6, 4 —6, 4—6. She did . not meet Miss Nicholls. Miss D. Nicholls.. the 1932-3 champion', defeated Micis Newton, Miss Wake, and Miss Poole in the casket matches. She met Miss Macfarlane twice, winning in the casket matches, 4—6, 6—4, 11—9, and losing in the championehips, 6—B, 3—6. Miss Macfarlane in Form. Miss Marjorie Macfarlane was responsible for the elimination of the title-holder in the championships, but lost to her in the caeket match, in which she also lost to Mrs. Dykes. She beat Mrs. Melody comfortably in the chumpionehipe, but lost to Miss Bkkerton, 3—<S, 3—6. Miss Wake, whom most critics would have ranked fourth before the championships, lost to Miss Nicholls and Mrs. Dykes in the casket matches without winning a set, and to Mrs. Dykes in the championsships in a three-set match. Mies T. Poole, Canterbury's second string, also lost to Mre, Dykes and Mjfss Nicholle, but took a set from Miss Nicholls, and also a set from Miss .Valkenbers, by whom she was defeated iii the. championships. This performance resulted in her beinj? included ;i« the fourth-member of the New Zealand women's team to pkiy the Australians at Wellington on Saturday next.

Inter-club Final on Saturday. The final of the play-all section of_ the Auckland A grade inter-club competition will be played at Stanley Street on Saturday nex.t between Porn ell No. 1 and Eden and Epsom No. 2 teams, when a close and keenly-fought contest should be witnessed. The final of the knock-out section between Eden and Epsom No. 1 and Remuera No. 1, which was to have been played next Saturday, has been postponed until February 10, on account of the absence of some of the leading players at Southern tournaments.