Tennis Player Of Unusual Promise

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28748, 20 November 1958, Page 17

Tennis Player Of Unusual Promise

I ? MPAHA . . /ELY unknown t years ago. a young t . nrrtochnreh Boys High School j v~ temr. s player, Peter Alex- r ' ziez nas been gradually and s f:y going ahead. His i . skk achievement came last s -erm when be won the final i .th —&zz. s championship singles pr rw tournament from i - top-ranked player. J *- extmaer keks to have out- -«-• fimg possibilities, for his s m.—e s pased on consistent at- a v m p'.er.’y of pace yet xe control. and a t - cool temperament. How- a id y»t be has had little com- I .'-xnr £ga~s~. players from C r tnsr F t t •" egress a « £ '-EnedeT who came to Christ- i c m ir-rr fmm Rotorua about four t ? i_zz. ras not often been in v 77 ? i*mr g news, but the records s- v -mi: >:me isolated instances v num '.rr x? m< promise. In De- s Ikod. be was ranked only p r.e—srm re the under 19 boys’ ti m*e next February he was c ” i xr-ws junior team and then. a - - nortant but hardly noticed ° me tae. was a win over G. Za - ms.r. f North Otago, in a H School versus Waitaki r.im m March. 1957. Davidson g v is mes considered one of the a les: rumors m the country. About •f si.—f xxs Alexander reached v M-m-f".als of the secondary n pionships and won • • sertim of a tournament ; • ------ v ttsz A.ixar.der showed out ! a w r-n—•£ good performances v sfmmcs in the 1957 Show | s ,

tournament he was picked for the Canterbury Slazenger Shield junior boys’ team and won all his matches in the first coritest against North Otago. He was playing for the Cashmere senior reserve team in inter-club competition. Little Tennis For the main part of the tennis season nothing was seen of Alexander as a tennis player for he was working during his vacation, but he turned up as a giant-killer again at the Easter tournament. He beat the sixth-seeded B. R. Crawford, then another senior player, M. I. C. Norden, then the third seed, K. Familton, of Ashburton, the country champion, and lost in the semi-finals to G. A. Burton. • Alexander appeared with little ■ ceremony in the first tournament this season at Labour week-end when he again reached the semifinals before losing to Pritchard, who on this occasion was too steady for his young opponent. Promoted to the Cashmere senior team, Alexander won his first club match without the loss of a game.

This brought the 18-year-old player to his triumph of last week-end. He beat the Canterbury champion, A. D. L. Hunter. 9-7. 4-6. 6-1. in the first round, another junior, R. Blunt, 6-1. 6-2 in the second round. B. J. Shirlaw. who plays above him in the Cashmere team, 6-3, 10-8. in the semifinals. and then Pritchard. 7-5, 7-5 in the final. And just for his record he went out on the middle afternoon of the tournament to win his second club match of the season, 6-0, 6-0.