GUIDE TO FORM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 5, 7 January 1938, Page 13

GUIDE TO FORM.

NEW PLYMOUTH PLAY.

BROWN PARTICIPATING AFTER

CANTERBURY WIN.

(By HALF-VOLLEY.)

The North Island lawn tennis championships, at present being played at N'ew Plymouth, are sure to attract a iot of interest as a guide to form in the coming Dominion tournament to be held at Auckland. A number of the more prominent Aucklanders are competing, and as they have so far been playing in different parts of the country, it will be most interesting to see how they fare against each other. A. D. Brown, fresh from his brilliant win in the Canterbury championships, will possibly have the best chance. Brown apparently played particularly well in Christchurch. He met C. Angae in the semi-final and defeated him, playing (according to the telegraphed report) "brilliantly in every department of the game." Angas is notoriously difficult to defeat on his own i courts and his finished tennis is a great test of a younger player's reliability. In the final Brown met H. A. Barnett, the stonewaller whom many northern champions remember with a wry smile as thev think of unexpected defeats in the past. Brown -was apparently able to make the pace too hot even for the reliable Barnett, and lie won the final in straight sets. J. T. Mayson, the other Auckland entrant, came through to the semi-final against Barnett, but found Barnett too steady. The men's doubles title was won by Barnett and Cant—Brown and Mayson did not reach the final. The women's events, as usual, were scooped by the Poole sisters. Sturt in Form. While Brown was annexing the Canterbury championships, another Aucklander was dealing out destruction in the Wellington tournament. Here Norman Sturt was successful, defeating Don France in the final. Sturt is also playing at New Plymouth, and many will hope that he and Brown come through to the final. Sturt is the present title-holder, and is ranked immediately below Brown in the present New Zealand ranking list; If these two should meet, a battle royal seems assured. In the men's doubles at New Plymouth Sturt will play with Gunn. and Brown with Mavson. Another pair is Dickie and Dickie, who won at Wanganui, but the two Auckland pairs should meet in the final. Gunn's Two Tournaments. J. W. Gtinn began at Rotorua, and then went on to Wanganui. winning the singles at Wanganui and being runnerup at Rotorua. In the Rotorua tournament he defeated Norman Smith in the semi-final after being well down, and then suffered a similar fate at the hands of the determined Waikato player, D. Livingstone, in the final, when he was nnlv one game off a straight sets- victory. Gunn won the first two gets, and needed only a game to give him the third, but by one of these turns of form which are so common, he became listless. and victory slipped through his finders. At Wanganui, against a weaker field, Gunn won. and he is now competing at New Plymouth. Miss J. Hansen, of Auckland, deserves congratulations on a fine "scoop" at Wanganui. when she won in all three championship events. Besides the singles, ? he won the doubles, partnered by Miss T E. Ramsay, and the combined, partnered by Dickie. Waikato Doubles Strong. One look at the Rotorua doubles results will convince the critics that the Waikato colts know something of the doubles game. No Aucklander reached the final, which was contested by two Waikato pairs. J. Roach-Livingstone a nd A. Roach-Matuschka. The former air won after a sterling contest full of hard-hitting rallies. Both these pairwill probably been seen in Aucklanu tournaments thi« year.