Lawn Tennis DAVIS CUP MATCH

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28951, 20 July 1959, Page 19

Lawn Tennis DAVIS CUP MATCH

T ’ Australia And t Mexico, 1-1 j. (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) S MEXICO CITY, ’July 18. Australia and Mexico won one singles match each in the i first day’s play of the final of the American Zone of the Davis Cup in Mexico vity today. The Australian left-hander . Neale Fraser won a marathon two-hour opening match, beating : 23-year-old Antonio Palafox, 8-6, 6-0, 2-6, 4-6, 6-3. , But the Mexican number one, ' 31-year-old Mario Llamas, used ■ his great local knowledge and every bit of guile to whip 20-year-old Rod Laver, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, in just 71 minutes. Fraser’s match lasted two hours ■ eight minutes, and was inter- ; rupted several times by an excited crowd of 40,000 which _ heckled several close line , decisions. r Palafox fought back gamely, ’ but Fraser's steady consistency t under extremely difficult condis tions in the Mexico City altitude won him the match. ■ The Australian team captain, J Harry Hopman, said tonight he . would announce the doubles pairs ing tomorrow morning after he had ' discussed play in today’s tricky clay court conditions with his • team. , I Hopman said he considered '•Fraser’s victory a good win. The ’ Victorian left-hander had shown I no after-effect from the match

which so closely followed his appendicitis attack, he said. Asked whether he was worried over the prospects ahead, Hopman replied: “It’s no use worrying. Let’s say I’m concerned.” Hopman thought Laver played “well—but Llamas played too well for him.” Hopman quickly retorted, when asked if he thought Laver could have Improved his showing in any way: “Rod and I couldn’t work out how to beat him today. He was too good.” At the end of the colourful first day—white-coated waiters delivered trays of food and drink to grandstand spectators—the Mexican crowd of 40.000 hailed Llamas as their hero. The spectators swarmed over the court to chair ’ the Mexican off as he quaffed a great jug of frosted orange juice.