BROMWICH BEATEN IN THE DAVIS CUP.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 200, 25 August 1939, Page 13

BROMWICH BEATEN IN THE DAVIS CUP.

Inter-zone Final At Boston. Puncec Too Good \ or Australian Champion— Quist Easily Conquers Mitic. (Received 11.30 a.m.) NEW YORK, August 24. f In r» the fi^ 8t p, ?. y at Bo9ton in the inter-zone final of of e Davis Cup, Australia and Yugoslavia each won a singles. F. Puncec, whose victories over H. Henkel and R. Gopfert caused the elimination of Germany, beat J. E. Bromwich, 6—2, B—6, r~J' 1 a'' * A • K> Quist vanquished D. Mitic, 6—o, o—4, o—3.

The doubles will be played on Friday when Australia will rely on the same pair, but F. Kukuljevic will partner Puncec. Quist meets the last-named on Saturday, and Bromwich will engage Mitic who was taken to five sets by New Zealander D. C. Coombe in the British championship at Wimbledon.

wi . n T ner °, f j he rn&tch will go to Philadelphia to challenge the holder. United States, on September 2, 3 and 4.

The gamps in the Puncec - Brotmvich rubber alternated with the service in n protracted backcourt, duel, until n break occurred <>n Bromwich's detil in t lie sixth service, when t lie Yugoslav's passing shots proved too much for Bromwich. Th i j gave Puncec a 4—2 lead. Bromwh-li until this stage had a slight advantage, gince it seemed to take Puncec longer to win his games than the Australinn. Bromwich also was plainly steadier than his opponent. There was little variation to the manner of plav, each man chiefiy hugging the back line, and waiting for the other to lapse into cr Alter the sixth g a m o, however, l'uncec quickly hud iiis own way and finished off the set In a brief volleying contest.

In the next set Puncec won nine points in a row nnd three games, with the losa 6f but a ■ingle point, be/oro the Australian could stem his opponent's sheer brilliance at the net and his accuracy at the back of the court, and win his . service. Bromwich showed that he was being extremely hard pressed. The Yugoslav** shots off the ground, his recovery of dropshots for placements, and his angled tsliots from both aide* caught the Australian flat-footed, and were magnificent. Bromwich, however, wasn't beaten yet. He cracked PuncecYt service in the seventh jjunie to love, and won his own service at ]•> to even the score at 4 —4. Bromwich drew ahead at 5 —4 when he smashed the Yugoslav's service ngain, hut he couldn't effect an advantage. Breaks In Bromwich's service in the tenth of fourteenth games ended the *et for him. The versatility of Puncec'a shots and hie greater accuracy gave him supremacy.

Bromwich broke Puncec's service on three occasions to love in the next set, and ran out the set with the allowance of only 11 points in 12 minutes. Puncec, who had had his legs massaged before the opening act, seomed anxious for the ten minute rest.

Bromwich, drop-shotting persistently, I broke Puncec's service in the third game and assumed a 2—l lead. This he could not hold, losing his own service in the JiGxt game when Puncec returned these dropshots for placement*. The Yugoslav then rapidly ran out the set, winning the fifth and seventh games to love, and the eighth at fifteen. Played Like a Novice. The first set in the Quist-Mitic mat* Was an unimpressive exhibition. Mitic's errors seemed to stamp him as a novice while Quist simply outsteadied him and caused him to run aimlessly after drop shots. Only two games went to deuce. The net took 10 minutes. Although the Yugoslav won his first service on Quist's nets, and the fifth game after two deuces —his volleys on return from service coming off for placements for the first time In the match— he gave no real demonstration of tourna-

ment calibre until the seventh game when he stroked with surety in miclco'urt. Thia game gave an inkling of his possible capacity. Quist was two points from the set in the ninth game after Mitic had stood 30—0, but the Australian lapsed into errors, prolonging the inaU")! to the tenth game, which he won by 4 points to 1.

Quint's service endangered the second game, but he pulled up to win by 0—4.0—4. Mitic won the fifth game because Quist lackadaisically popped his shots out. Then the first surprise of the match occurred, Mitic breaking the Australian's service with steady returns that Quiet apparently did not expect. He repeated trie performance in the eighth game after five deuces, but it meant little since the Australian accounted for Mitic's service in the ninth. Surprise to Hopman. H. O. Hopman, captain and manager of the Australian team, in an interview with the Associated Press said: — "Puncec's victory was a surprise to us, but it illustrated clearly that Bromwich had not sufficient forcing practice in first-class singles. "Puncec stood on the backline and drove him around at will. This would not have happened if Bromwich had practised against major tournament player*. "Practice with W. Sabin (U.S.A.), Jack Crawford or myself was not enough to prepare him against a player of Puncec's versatility. I am trying to arrange much stifTer competition in future, and hope to have I"red Perry (Wimbledon champion from 1934 to 1036) for practice purposes. "Incidentally, I think that Quist will have a better chance against Puncec since, temperamentally, he is better suited to handle Puncec's forcing game."