LAWN TENNIS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21975, 26 December 1936, Page 5

LAWN TENNIS

* CANTERBURY TITLES EXCELLENT MATCHES ON FIRST DAY VISITING PLAYERS IN FORM A full afternoon’s play at Wilding Park yesterday in the Canterbury lawn tennis championships went far toward solving the difficulties of the tournament officials, who have the task of completing in three and a half days a tournament which has drawn a record entry. The courts were slow after the overnight rain, but were in excellent order, and a fairly large gallery enjoyed some first-class tennis. Only senior championship matches were played yesterday; a start will be made with the handicap events and the junior events this morning. The senior championship events must bo completed by Tuesday to enable the players to leave for Timaru, where the New Zealand title tournament will begin on Wednesday. The Canterbury tournament will be a New Zealand championship tourney in miniature for few of the Dominion’s leading players who will be playing at Timaru are not also competitors in the Christchurch tournament. Facing the strongest opposition he has had for many years, C. Angas, the provincial champion, showed impressive form in his first match in the singles, and in spite of the large entry of leading players from the North Island, he seems to be playing well enough to retain his title. He met D. Livingstone, a young Waikato player who has a good record in northern tournaments, and who in strokes, temperament. and physique, looks to be a coming player. Though Livingstone played magnificently at times, he could make no .impression on an opponent who attacked consistently at the net and who was always ready to turn defence into attack with the most surprising shots. Angas won 6-0, 6-2. Angas’s Opposition Angas’s strongest opponents undoubtedly will be D. C. Coombe, of Wellington, who beat him in the New Zealand championship at Wellington last year, N. G. Sturt, and H. A. Barnett. the latter pair being in the opposite half of the draw. Coombe was playing solidly, but he had far from a walk-over in either of his first matches. C. F. Penfold, the Canterbury youngster. pressed him very hard with neat placements and volleys in the second set of their match, and D. Clow, another youngster from Waikato, nit hard and effectively to take the score to advantage. Hitting crisply and neatly on either hand, and making clever use of the drop-shot, Norman Sturt. Auckland s leading player, went through two rounds of the singles without much difficulty. His first opponent was G. A. Pearce, the tall Otago player who now lives in Wellington. Pearce won a few games with his fast service, but neither his ground strokes nor his volleying was sufficently accurate to foubls Sturt. In the second round Sturt beat B. E. Souter. the tenacious Elmwood player. None ’of the other seeded men had much difficulty. J. C. Charters the Wellington left-hander, lost only one game in each set against J. R. Crawshaw, but it was left to H. Dymond, the Canterbury third ranking player, to p'rovide the record. He lost only one game in four sets against D. A. MeCaskey and C. T. Macarthur (Wellington). A. D. Brown, the young Auckland player with the fierce forehand, appears to have strengthened the rest of his game since he was last seen in Christchurch, and he showed good form in beating P. D. McGregor. A Curious Score H. A. Barnett played with his usual machine-like accuracy in beating first R. G. Pattinson and then C. B. Beatson, the former Canterbury College player now living at Nelson. Another visitor to go cut early was J. Leng, a youngster from North Auckland, who put up a good fight against A. K. Cant in the first set. After beating N. Adams, a young Christchurch payer, J. Roach, another of the visiting Waikato team, which will challenge for the Wilding Shield, went out to J. W. Gunn, of Auckland, in a good all-court game. . There was a curious score in the match between J. T. Mayson (Auckland) and I. J. Corich (Canterbury), both of .vhom were members of tne team of juniors which toured New South Wales. Corich won the first set 6-1 and did not score a»game in the remaining two sets As one may suppose, the form of the players was uneven, but after the first set Mayson stroked hard and accurately. N.Z. Champion’s Form Miss Dulcie Nicholls, New Zealand champion, is naturally favourite for the women’s single title, especially as Miss N. Beverley (Waikato), runnerup to her last year, is not an entrant in the singles. Miss Nicholls, with her powerful array of strokes and control of the ball, was too strong for Miss J. Senior (Canterbury), who nevertheless took two games in each set and thoroughly earned them by good driving and determined chasing. Miss I. Poo’e will provide Miss Nicholls’s strongest opposition in the half provided she can beat Miss M. Wake, who. well suited by the heavy court, played remarkably solid tennis to beat Miss E. Fleetwood, a highranking Canterbury player, without the loss of a game. Mrs C. B. Beatson (Nelson), however, is also likely to trouble Miss Nicholls. Mrs Beatson, who as Miss Marjorie Sherris, won the Canterbury championship two years ago, played we’l in beating Miss I. Morrison, sixth on the provincial ranking list. Other interesting games in this event were those between Misses N. Bishop and D. Dickey, third and fifth respectively on the provincial ranking list, and between Miss M. Beverley (Waikato) and Mrs C. Hayward. Miss Dickey played one of her best games so far in taking a love set from Miss Bishop, who is usually' at her best on a slow court. Miss Bishop’s control at crucial points, however, made the difference in the other sets. There w'as much interest in the appearance of Miss M. Beverley, a former New Zealand junior champion. She undoubtedly has a fine equipment of strong and well-produced strokes, and with exp°rionce she should become one of the Dominion’s best players. In the second set she was inclined to fall into error against the extreme steadiness and tenacity of Mrs Hayw’ard, but many good play'ers have done the same thing. Good Doubles Matches Although not much progress was made with the doubles events there were some excellent games among the few that were played. Brown and Mayson. the young Auckland pair, hit hard from the back of the court and volleyed and smashed with abandon to beat Clow and Long (Waikato), and they may trouble Sturt and Gunn, the seeded pair in their section of the draw. The neat positional play of Charters and the fierce overhead work of Coombe were features of their fairly easy match against RhodesWilliams and Adams. The best doubles of the day were those between G. A. and E. A. Pearce and Pattinson and Penfold, and between Barnett and Seay and Cant and Patterson. The Pearce brothers play enterprising doubles tennis. They crowd the net at every opportunity and smash with great .power. Hie Can-

ter bury youngsters, however, Picked up the hardest shots and sternly contested every game of the long first and second sets. The Pearce brothers were well on top in the third. For scratch pair, Patterson and Cant did well to extend the third seeded pair, Barnett and Seay. The last-mentioned took some time to settle down, and he had to bear the, brunt of a concentrated attack. Patterson P l^* l very soundly, lobbing well and finding gaps with his forehand drive. Barnettes steadiness saved his side from some awkward situations. Results of yesterdays play were as follows:-- 1 MEN’S SINGLES First Round J. Roach beat N. Adams, 6-4, 8-6. C. T. Macarthur beat W. A. Chrystall, H. Dymond beat D. A. McCaskey, 6-0, 6 ’n. G. Sturt beat G. A. Pearce, 6-3, 6-1. B. E. Souter beat L. B. Blacit, 6-3, 6-1. Second Round C. Angas beat D. Livingstone. 6-0. 6-2. E. A. Pearce beat B. M. O'Connor, w.o. K. W. Dver beat H. C. Ford, 6-4, 7-5. J C. Charters beat, J. R. Crawshaw, 6-1, 6 D. C. Coombe beat C. F. Penfold, 6-3, 7-5 D. Clow beat E. C. Maindonald. 6-0. 6-2. J, W. Gurfn beat Roach. 6-2. 6-3. Dymond beat Macarthur, 6-0, 6-1. Sturt heat Souter. 6-2 6-2. J. T. Mayson beat I. J. Conch, 1-6. 6-0. X. \v. Patterson beat W. J. Deans, 6-4, A. D. Brown beat P. D. McGregor, 6-1, 6 'li. A. Barnett beat R. G. Pattinson, 6-0, C. B. Beatson beat J. H. Silvester, 6-4. 6 A. R. Cant beat J. Leng, 6-4, 6-1. T. Rhodes-Williams beat B. D. Duffield, 6-4, 6-0. Third Round Coombe beat Clow, 6-1, 8-6. Barnett beat Beatson, 6-0, 6-3. WOMEN’S SINGLES First Round Miss M. Wake beat Miss J. Peake, 6-4. Miss E. Fleetwood beat Miss S. Anderson, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. Miss T. Poole beat Miss L. E. Berry. Miss J. Johnson beat Miss B. Black, 2-6, 6- 6-4. Second Round Miss D. Nicholls beat Miss J. Senior, 6-2. 6-2. Mrs C. B. Beatson beat Miss I. Mornson, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Miss I. Poole beat Miss M. Murray. 6-0, Miss Wake beat Miss Fleetwood, 6-0, 6-0. Miss T. Poole beat Miss Johnson, 6-1. 6-1. Miss N. Bishop beat Miss D. K. Dickey. 7- 0-6, 6-3. Miss M. Beverley beat Mrs C. Hayward. 6-0, 6-4. MEN'S DOUBLES First Round J. T. Mayson and A. D. Brown beat D. Clow and J. Leng, 6-0. G-2. J. C. Charters and D. C. Coombe beat T. Rhodes-Williams and N. Adams, 6-1. 6-2. Second Round G. A. and E. A. Pearce beat R. G. Pattinson and C. F. Penfold, 7-5, 9-11, 6-1. H. A. Barnett and I. A. Seay beat A R. Cant and T. W. Patterson, 10-8, 3-6, 6-4. WOMEN'S DOUBLES Second Round Misses N. and M. Beverley beat Misses M. Murray and R. Templeton. 6-2, 6-1. Misses I. and T, Poole beat Mrs C. Hayward and Miss J. Senior, 6-3, 8-6. MIXED DOUBLES First Round H. Dymond and Miss N. Bishop beat N. Adams and Miss J. Peake, 6-0, 6-4. Second Round J, W. Gunn and Miss M. Beverley beat L. Armstrong and Miss 1. Morrison, 6-2, Draw for To-day All competitors, in junior championship and handicap events are required at Wilding Park at 8.30. The first championship matches will be: — 9 a.m.—Men’s Singles: C. Angas v. E. A. Pearce, K. Dyer v. J. C. Charters, J. W. Gunn v, H. Dymond, N. G. Sturt v. J T. Mavson, T. W. Patterson v. A. D Brown, A. R. Cant v. T. R. Williams. Women's Singles—Miss J. Ramsay v. Miss B. Gould, Miss D. Nicholls v. Mrs C. B. Beatson, Miss I. Poole v. Miss M. Wake, Miss T. Poole v. Miss N. Bishop. All other players in . championship events are required at 9.30.