LAWN TENNIS Mrs Fitzgerald, Miss Smith In Final

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29089, 29 December 1959, Page 3

LAWN TENNIS Mrs Fitzgerald, Miss Smith In Final

A player who was ranked top in Canterbury and fourth in New Zealand several years ago and a young player just out of Howe Shield junior class will meet in the Anal of s the women’s singles of the 1 Canterbury Lawn Tennis 1 championships today. They J are Mrs L. Fitzgerald and f Miss C. Smith, respectively. Yesterday, on the centre f courts at Wilding Park, Mrs Fitzgerald beat Mrs P. r Leopold, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4, and , Miss Smith beat Mrs E. ’ Campbell, 6-2, 6-4. J Mrs Fitzgerajd, of the United . Club, and Mrs Leopold, of , Avonside, were well known as ; leading Canterbury players as i Miss L. Luxton and Miss P. ; Allen. Since then they have both j been overseas and have been married and have made grand j come-backs to tennis in Christ- ‘ church this season. Neither was J on the Canterbury ranking list ; last season; but this season Mrs ’ Leopold has done so well that ' she has been placed second behind Miss J. Davidson and Mrs Fitzgerald is at sixth. Mrs Fjtz- ’ gerald has now shown that she is capable of beating some of those above her. She will have a further test today when she meets Miss C. Smith, an Avonside club member who has not lost a club match for the second season in succession and who has risen from fifth to third on the ranking list this season. Mrs Campbell, of Cashmere, is at fourth place on the list. Men’s Semi-finalists In the men’s semi-finals today, A. D. L. Hunter, seeded first for this tournament, ranked third in Canterbury, and a previous holder of the title, will play A. Trembath, who has returned to tennis in Christchurch after several years overseas, and seeded fourth; and M. C. Healey, a New Zealand and Canterbury selector, unseeded, will play A. L. Blackwell, also unseeded. Blackwell is also a previous holder of the title. Although she had a difficult struggle to win her match, Mrs Fitzgerald was the most enterprising of the four semi-finalists yesterday. She was the only one who attacked with volley or smash from near the net at all regularly, and although she made some errors from there’ that game gave her an advantage. The others all preferred the driving attack and seldom left the baseline. Even First Set Mrs Fitzgerald and Mrs Leopold had a very even first set with Mrs Leopold gaining the slight advantage when she cut her shots very competently, many of them skimming the net and barely bouncing so that her opponent was unable to get to them. In the second set, Mrs Fitzgerald was quite markedly on top as she kept Mrs Leopold consistently on the baseline with strong drives to the corners. She lost only the one game. The third set took much the same course as Mrs Fitzgerald moved to a 4-1 lead, attacking all the time. She was then showing more variation in her play than any of the other semi-finalists. Mrs Leopold fought back determinedly to 4-4 with some of her skimming shots when Mrs Fitzgerald had a bout of “outs.” Then the winner came on to her attack again and it was significant that she won three of her four points in the last game from volley or smash. She did not move in perhaps as much as she might have but at least it was part of her game.

Driving Match The other semi-final was almost ' purely a driving match, and it ' was good driving. Both hit cleanly and sometimes very hard ; but Miss Smith had a better balance between forehand and ! backhand than her opponent. ! Several times she played a sue- , cession of shots to Mrs Camp- i bell’s backhand and the returns < became weaker and weaker until , at last one did not make the , net. J However, several times Mrs i Campbell played shots to the t corners on both sides of Miss Smith and the Rangiora girl did not move quickly enough to get them. Mrs Campbell had her t beat ipellz at the beginning of t the second set, when she moved i 4

to a 2-0 lead, and later when she took a 4-3 lead. Both are renowned as players who return almost everything and this time Miss Smith did that the better. Mrs Campbell put a lot of pace on her forehand but she had a backhand failing. Re-established Blackwell, who had not been up to the form earlier this season that he had had over so many seasons, re-established himself by his comfortable defeat of the second-seeded B. J. Shirlaw. 6-3, 6-2. Blackwell was in very fine form indeed and one of the I most pleasing features was that ! he reproduced the volleying that ;he has become noted for. He i put awqy some grand winners. Shirlaw has been known as a ! steady player but this time Blackwell was the steadier and Shirlaw lost points when he came to net. Healey is another player who has virtually made a comeback in this tournament and he now seems to be playing about as well as he has since he came to Christchurch several years ago. He did extremely well with his smooth-stroking style to beat the hard-hitting P. Angland, of Timaru, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. The top seed, A. D. L. Hunter, had a hard three-setter before he beat W. G. Lewthwaite, 6-2, 6-8, 6-2, and Trembath also took three sets to beat the promising young player, R. Neumann, 7-5, 5-7, 6-1. Neumann used his hard service to advantage again and the difference in the third set lay in Trembath making far fewer errors. Results Men’s Singles Quarter-finals. —A. D. L. Hunter beat W. G. Lewthwaite. 6-2, 6-8, 6-2; A. Trembath beat R. Neumann, 7-5, 5- 6-1; M C. Healey beat P Angland, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4; A. L. Black well beat B. J. Shirlaw, 6-3, 6-2. Women’s Singles Semi-finals.—Miss C. Smith beat Mrs E. Campbell, 6-2, 6-4; Mrs L. Fitzgerald beat Mrs P. Leopold, 5-7,' 6- 6-4. Men’s Doubles Quarter-finals.—G. A. Burton and E. Cormack beat M. Agar and I D. Armstrong, 2-6, 6-3, 9-7; B. J.l Shirlaw and A. Trembath beat P. | Angland and K. Green, 6-1.. 6-0; M.' C. Healey and R. Minson beat B. J. Aldridge and R. Neumann, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. Semi-finals.—Shirlaw and Trembath beat Burton and Cormack, 6-0, 6-2. Women’s Doubles Semi-finals.—Mrs D. McKinnel and Miss C. Smith beat Misses K. Williams and B. Blackbum, 6-3, 6-3; | Mesdames P. Leopold and L. Fitz-! gerald beat Mesdames E. Campbell and A Ryder, 6-4, 6-3. Mixed Doubles First Round.—K. B. Allin and Miss C. Smith beat G. Price and Mrs L. Rixon, 6-1. 6-3; M. C. Healey and ‘Mrs D. McKinnel beat T. Harneiss and Miss J. Andrews, 6-4 6-2. Quarter-finals.—A. L. Blackwell and Miss K. Williams beat A. K. Taylor and Miss P. Andrews, 6-2, 6-4: A. D L. Hunter and Mrs L. Fitzgerald beat B. W, Crofts and Miss B. Dawson, 6-3, 6-2; A. Trembath and Mrs P. Leopold beat Allin and Miss Smith, 6-2, 6-4; Healey and Mrs McKinnel beat P. Anglahd and Mrs B. Blackburn, 6-2, 6-3. Semi-final.—A. L.’ Blackwell and Miss K. Williams beat A. D. L. Hunter and Mrs W. Fitzgerald, 2-6. 6-2, 7-5.