FIVE NATIONS IN SEMI-FINALS

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30983, 12 February 1966, Page 13

FIVE NATIONS IN SEMI-FINALS

The semi-finals of the Gold Leaf tennis tournament today have, for a Wilding Park event, a fascinating international flavour—a Spaniard, a Chilean, two English players, an Australian and three New Zealanders.

According to the seedings, the only overseas visitor missing is the Frenchwoman, Mrs M. Rodriguez, formerly Miss Michelle Boulle.

She was beaten yesterday in a long match by Miss M. Greenwood, the English girl who now lives in Wellington.

In the men’s singles the I dark and powerfully-built ; Englishman, R. Taylor, seeded first, will meet another tall I dark man, P. Rodriguez, of Chile, seeded third. New Zealand’s leading man I for all this decade, L. A. Gerrard. seeded second, will play I J. Gisbert, of Spain, seeded fourth, who showed yesterday what a polished player he is. Women’s Semi-Finals The semi-finalists for the women’s singles are the top player of the Australian Universities team, Miss A. Jenkins, seeded first, and Mrs E. Stephan, of Auckland, seeded third; Miss S. Clement (Auckland), the fourth seed, and the unseeded Miss Greenwood. Yesterday’s matches brought some glorious play and augured well for the later contests. All the men won in straight sets; all the women except Miss Greenwood did

so. too. but she caused the only upset to seedings. Miss Greenwood and Mrs Rodriguez had a gruelling tussle which had a marked change of fortune in the middle. At the end of it all Mrs Rodriguez was so tired that she and her husband decided to default their mixed doubles. She will be fit for her women's doubles semi-final today. Thoughtful Play It was a far from exciting contest but it included a great deal of careful and thoughtful play. Mrs Rodriguez had the initial advantage and the more forceful* shots, but the diminutive Miss Greenwood chased everything and began to score with passing shots. Earlier Mrs Rodriguez. who at times served with venom, I was able to work her opponent out of position, but later it was Miss Greenwood who found the openings. She was certainly determined and surely a different player to the one who lost to the 13-year-old Wellington girl, Miss M. Pryde, on Tuesday. The other women’s quarterfinals were comfortably won. Canterbury’s top woman now that Mrs R. Dxvy is not playing. Miss D. Smith, lost her first set with Miss Jenkins, 0-6, and then held a lead of 4-3 in the second set.

Three beautiful drop shots by Miss Jenkins changed the tenor of the match and Miss Jenkins won the second set

6-4. She had admirable control of her ground strokes.

Different Gisbert

It was pleasing to everyone to see the 19-year-old Spaniard. Gisbert, in his true colours and any disappointment there had been in his play the previous evening was fully atoned. For the third time in New Zealand he met the leading junior, B. E. Fairlie, of Auckland, and beat hint well enough. The Auckland score was 6-3, 7-5, 6-3: at Wellington. 6-3, 6-4: at Christchurch. 6-3. 6-3. And that was a good indication of their merits. Jose Gisbert, in some quarters, is reputed to be a better grass court player than his brother, the Davis Cup player. Juan. It was the ideal grass court game he played yesterday, however. He served excellently himself but it was his return of service which was so startling, especially off the backhand—hit down the lines or dipping across court. For all that Fairlie was impressive too. He chased the ball unfailingly and brought off some remarkable winners from defensive positions. Eas” For Gerrard

Although the first two seeds, Taylor and Gerrard, still look those most likely ot contest the final, yesterday one was given considerable opposition and the other was not.

Gerrard appears to have some sort of advantage, psychologically as well as in skill, in some of his matches with other New Zealanders. R. N. Hawkes, of Wellington, although ranked second in the Dominion, was able to take only three games from him yesterday, Gerrard was devastating. But Hawke's Wellington colleague, Souter, was not overawed by Taylor. Souter had beaten him in Wellington, 6-3, 6-3, but although he was tenacity personified yesterday he was never able to gain control.

Taylor has a magnificent delivery, bullet-like and swinging as left-handers do, and Souter had the greatest difficulty handling the returns. Only his agility enabled him to keep the game going so long. 9th To Equal 2nd

Taylor actually dropped the first service of the match but there was considerable difficulty at that stage in seeing where the services went. His ground shots are not quite to the same standard as his serving but they are good enough, and it is easy to see how he has risen from ninth to equal second in Britain since he was here in 1963.

In build, the 24-year-old Rodriguez is very like the American E. L. Scott, who played in the national championships in 1964. He has the same long legs, the same gangling build and his reach and stride give him an enviable advantage. AU this spelt the demise of the Canterbury junior, J. Mitchell, a member of this year’s Linton Cup team in Australia, 6-2, 6-3. Mitchell tried hard but he was passed on both backhand and forehand and Rodriguez seemed to have a preference for taking services on his backhand. The returns were a delight.

Roscwall Wins. Only 200 people watched K. Rosewall (Australia) beat B. Mackay (United States), 7-5, «3. In a professional tennis tournament at Sydney yesterday. In another singles, E. Buchholz (U.S.) beat M. Anderson (Australia), 6-2, 8-6.