Lawn Tennis Last Season’s Men’s Winner Beaten

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29983, 19 November 1962, Page 3

Lawn Tennis Last Season’s Men’s Winner Beaten

An outstanding result on the first day of the Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association’s senior competitions on Saturday was the defeat of last season’s senior men’s winner, Cashmere, by 6 matches to 0. Apart from that, as expected, the strength of the University men’s team was apparent early and it appears that Cashmere will have little difficulty in winning the women’s competition

again. Elmwood gave Cashmere its humiliating defeat in the senior men’s competition played at the United Club’s courts in the morning. Not only did Elmwood win the four singles and two doubles but it won them all in straight sets and no set wag taken to advantage. The Elmwood team has the same players as last year except that C. C. Pollitt is playing instead of J. Cullington and it is a well-balanced side. The first and second players, W. Thom and L. W. Watkins were probably playing better on Saturday than they were at the beginning of last season and the third player, J. W. Duggan, seldom plays an unsound game. The four Cashmere players were all in last season’s winning team. Thom beat B. J. Shirlaw, 6-1, 6-3. retaining some of his good form of the show tournament. He forced to the net often and volleyed well from there. Pollitt was also hitting well from the net when he beat S. W. Bullen, 6-1, 6-4. Impressive Play Quite the most impressive performance of the round was given by the top University player, G. Davidson, who led his team to a 5-1 victory over Woolston. Winner of the show tournament, the previous week-end, Davidson hit just as hard again but he had eliminated many of the errors he made then. He beat B. J. Aldridge, 6-2, 6-0, and Aldridge just did not have a chance against the pace of Davidson’s play. Davidson did not put his his volleys into the net tills time.

A pleasing feature of this match was the appearance of D. Adair for Woolston. Adair was a member of the winning Canterbury Slazenger Shield team in 1957 but has not been playing senior tennis. He lost. 5-7. 3-6 to J. Taylor. P. S. Alexander, University’s second man, was in control when he beat M. Agar but the University third, L. J. Walpole, was given a harder task by the strong-serving R. Neumann, who took the first set to 5-7. Last season’s runner-up, United, was also beaten—by Edgeware, 4-2. United was without its top man, A. D. L. Hunter, and the junior, R. McCutcheon, playing top, lost a hard game. 4-6, 2-6. to L. Martin. Martin gave one of his best displays in senior tennis for some time. Martin and McCutcheon have similar attractive styles with flowing, weliproduced drives, but McCutcheon was inclined to lift shots over the baseline at the end of a rally. In the second match. W. G. Lewthwaite (United) beat T. Harneiss. 3-6. 6-3. 6-3. Hameiss was in grand form in the first

set, hitting the ball with tremendous force, sometimes with both feet off the ground, sometimes as he was falling. But Lewthwaite shrewdly slowed the game up and, playing very steadily, forced Harneiss to errors. A change In racket after the first set seemed to give Lewthwaite more control.

The former Marlborough representative and holder of the New Zealand Plate B. Baxter (Edgeware) beat J. Brebner. 6-4, 6-2. Brebner showed that he is an improving player with a strong service. In the other contest North Linwood beat the new team, Barrington, by 4 matches to 2. The Barrington players are young and they did reasonably well. The best win went to the top player for Barrington, G. G. Ford, who beat a sadly off form B. R. Crawford, 6-0, 6-1. W. Edgecumbe (Barrington) also won his singles when he beat E. Cormack. 9-7, 6-1. Cormack has long been noted as one of the steadiest players in Christchurch, but this time he was outsteadied himself. R. Watson (North Linwood) won a long and interesting match with L. Elliott, 8-6. 6-4. Women’s Games

In the women’s matches played at Wilding Park in the afternoon, Cashmere beat Avonside by 5 matches tb 1 and United beat Shirley by 6 matches to 0. Fendalton had the bye. Avonside’s only match was won by the Rangiora player, Miss D. Smith, who beat Miss K. Williams. 6-3, 6-1. Miss Smith was driving very strongly and she also won points with some sorties to the net. The New Zealand women's champion. Miss J. Davidson ■(Cashmere) was In fine form when she beat Mrs P. Leopold, 6-1, 6-1. Sizzling services, drives volleys and smashes flowed from her racket and. although Mrs Leopold played some good passing shots, she was unable to stem her opponent’s consistent attack.

Mrs E. Campbell (Cashmere), recently returned from overseas. and Miss D. Corich had a long and enthralling match. Mrs Campbell won the first set, 3-3, and was leading 5-1 and 40-0 in the second set when Miss Corlch, from Kaiapoi, produced an admirably determined effort and won the set, 9-7. Mrs Campbel! won the last set, 6-2, by her superior placement. A notable feature of the other match was the reappearance of Mrs V. Allen, formerly Miss V. Hatch, for Shirley. She met the hard-hitting junior. Miss C. Andrew, and was beaten. 4-6, 8-6. 6-2. Miss Andrew had the hitting ability but she was possibly disconcerted for the first part of the game by facing a left-hander. Results:— SENIOR MEN Woolston v. University Singles.—B. J. Aldridge lost to G Davidson, 2-6, 0-6; M. Agar lost to P. S. Alexander, 2-6, 3-6; R. Neumann lost to L. J, Walpole. 5-7. 2-6; D. Adair lost to J. Taylor. 5-7, 3-6. Doubles.—B. Aldridge and Neumann lost to Davidson and Alexander, 4-6, 3-6; Agar and Adair beat Walpole and Taylor, 7-5. 6-3. University won by 5 matches to 1. Edgeware v. United Singles.—L. Martin beat R. McCutcheon. 6-4, 6-2; T. Hameiss lost to W. G. Lewthwaite, 6-3, 3-6, 3-6: B. Baxter beat J. Brebner, 6-4. 6-2; P. Boatwood beat M. Hartshorn. 6-0, 6-1. Doubles—Martin and Baxter lost to McCutcheon and Lewthwaite, 3-6, 1-6; Hameiss and Boatwood beat Brebner and Hartshorn, 6-3, 8-6. Edgeware won by 4 matches to 2. Elmwood v. Cashmere Singles.—W. Thom beat B. Slhirlaw, 6-1, 6-3; L. W. Watkins beat I. D. Armstrong. 6-4, 6-2; J. W. Duggan beat R. Minson, 6-4, 6-1; C. C. Pollitt beat SBullen, 6-1. 6-4. Doubles.—Thom and Watkins beat Shirlaw and Armstrong. 6-2, 6-4; Duggan and Pollitt beat Bullen and Minson, 6-3, 6-4.

Elmwood won by 6 matches to 0.

North Linwood v. Barrington Singles.—B. R. Crawford lost

to G. G. Ford. 0-6, 1-6; R Watson beat L. Elliott. 8-6. 6-4; E. Cormack lost to W. Edgecumbe. 7-9, 1-6; R. Bruce beat A. Knight. 6-2, 6-3. Doubles.—Watson and Cormack beat Ford and Elliott. 6-2, 7-5; Crawford and Bruce beat Knight and Edgecumbe, 6-2. 6-4. North Linwood won by 4 matches to 2. SENIOR WOMEN Avonslde v. Cashmere Singles.—Mrs P. Leopold lost to Miss J. Davidson, 1-6, 1-6; Miss D. Smith beat Miss K. Williams, 6-3, 6-1; Miss D. Corich lost to Mrs E. Campbell, 3-6, 9-7, 2-6; Miss G. Freear lost to Mrs A. Ryan, 2-6, 2-6. Doubles.—Mrs Leopold and Miss Smith lost to Misses Davidson and Williams, 3-6, 6-2, 3-6; Misses Conch and Freear lost to Mesdames Campbell and Ryan. 2-6, 1-6. Cashmere won by 5 matches to 1. United v. Shirley Singles.—Miss S. Rich beat Miss J. Cusdin, 6-1. 6-2: Miss C Andrew beat Mrs V. Allen, 4-6. 8-6, 6-2; Miss D. Hopping beat Miss J. Hatch. 6-2. 7-5; Miss P. Craythorne beat Mrs P. Sanders. 6-1, 7-5. Doubles—Misses Rich and Andrew beat Miss Cusdm and Mrs Sanders. 6-3, 6-1; Misses Hopping and Craythorne beat Mrs Allen and Miss Hatch, 8-6, 6-3. United won by 6 matches to 0. SENIOR RESERVE Fendalton beat Shirley by 4 matches to 2: Cashmere beat North Linwood by 5 matches to 1; Edgeware beat Linwood Avenul by 4 matches to 2; Beckenham beat University by 4 matches to 1. SECOND GRADE MEN Shirley beat New Brighton by 5 matches to 1; St Ninian’s beat Linwood Avenue by 8 sets to 6; North Linwood "beat Avonside by 5 matches to 1; Opawa beat Addington Catholic by 6 matches to 0; Beckenham beat Elmwood by 4 matches to 2. FIRST MIXED A Elmwood beat Barrington by 10 matches to 6; Beckenham beat University by 136 games to 135; Cashmere beat Avonside by 14 sets to 12; Woolston beat Opawa by 14 matches to 2. SECOND MIXED Section I Elmwood beat Riciarton by 9 matches to 7; Barrington beat Avonside by 13 matches to 3; Edgeware beat North Linwood by 12 matches to 4.