THREE MORE SEEDS ELIMINATED Spectacular Victory By Young Wellington Girl

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31564, 29 December 1967, Page 9

THREE MORE SEEDS ELIMINATED Spectacular Victory By Young Wellington Girl

(By Our Tennis Reporter) The 15-year-old Miss M. Pryde, of Wellington, had played the New Zealand women’s champion, Miss B. Vercoe (Auckland), a number of times and had extended her, but she had not beaten her until yesterday.

In a sensational Canterbury championship match, Miss Pryde and Miss Vercoe struggled from 12.30 p.m. to 3.15 p.m. before Miss Pryde gained the finest of her many successes.

Miss Pryde won, 3-6, 7-5, 9-7, in the first of the women’s ' quarter-finals, and ! Miss Vercoe, the top seed, followed the second seed out of the tournament. Miss P. Rogan had been beaten the previous day. Miss Pryde had good reason to be elated—and she was quick to send a telegram to her parents in Wellington expressing this, because not only had she beaten the national champion, but she had given herself a great boost for ber imminent trip to Australia as the top member of the New Zealand Wilson Cup side. She is proving, too, with the other members of the cup side and those who were the unsuccessful candidates for It. that the girls of New Zealand tennis are also its senior women. Souter Beaten Miss Pn-de’s win yesterday was not the only outstanding one in a tournament which has already produced considerable interest. R. McCutcheon. the Canterbury player who was a ranked junior in 1964 but who in the meantime had failed to make any real impression on national senior tennis, although he was ton of his province for a time, knocked out the fourthseeded J. B. Souter (Wellington). three times previously a winner of the Canterbury title. It was a wonderful performance by McCutcheon, who has often looked as if he has had the strokes and the ability for a win of this nature but has been unable to sustain concentration. Not so yesterday. He kept his head and played as if this was his finest hour. Entry In Doubt At the same time, on the other centre court, the colourful Aucklander, J. H. Lockington, battled with the astute Australian now living in Christchurch, B. Leech. There had been considerable speculation the previous evening on the outcome of this match because Leech’s reputation as a worrier of strong reputations had spread. Lockington, although rank-

led third in New Zealand, had I not been seeded because there was doubt about his entry when the seedings were made, and Leech was made eighth seed. It looked 'early on as if Leech would add another scalp before Lockington won, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. Lockington and McCutcheon, the unseeded players, will meet in one of today’s quarter-finals. The others are the top-seeded B. E. Fairlie (Auckland) v. R. G. Clarke (Wellington), fifth; J. W. Mitchell (Canterbury), seventh, v. 0. Parun (Wellington), third; and K. Woolcott (Hutt Valley), sixth v. R. N. Hawkes (Wellington), second. Miss Pryde has reached the women’s semi-finals, but the other three-quarter finals have to be played—Miss C. Fleming (A) third v. Miss A. Stevens (A); Miss J. Bloxham

(Bay of Plenty), fourth v. Miss S. Collins (Southland); and Miss R. Legge (Canter-, bury) v. Miss J. Bishop (Canterbury). In some ways Souter was only a shadow of the player who has performed so well at Wilding Park, but this does not detract from McCutcheon’s play. He began in devastating mood, breaking Souter’s service in the third game and then taking a 3-1 lead. He chased every ball and he produced every shot of an attractive range. Shots Lacked Pace Souter was placing and lobbing with his usual finesse but bis shots lacked pace and McCutcheon was able to return them. McCutcheon won the first, 6-4, and he had his chance for the second when he recovered well from 2-5

; down to 5-5, but lost, 5-7. Then he played like a demon 'in the last to win it, 6-3. An arresting sight in his white cap, perhaps a recollection of the days when he was a taxi-driver in Sydney, Leech gave Lockington plenty of trouble. He got the match to the pace that he prefers, and he passed beautifully with his customary shots down the sidelines, at the same time anticipating Lockington’s moves. However, Lockington is one of the most intelligent players and he showed that he could also measure up to this type of game. He gained control in the second set, lost it for a time in the third, but was on top again at the finish. An indication of their determined play was that the eighth game in the first set had 16 deuces. Loss Of Rackets The contest had a thrilling finish. Leading 5-4 and 40-15, Leech lost the two match points, one to a brilliant volley by Lockington from behind his back to cut off one of Leech’s passes. Leech also saved two match points at 5-6. The Aucklander, D. Simmonds, who had played so well on the first day, found that New Zealand’s top player, B. E. Bairlie, was too well equipped for him.

Simmonds had some bad luck. Early in the match he broke a string in one of his rackets and then cracked the frame of another. He borrowed one of Lockington’s rackets, but his play fell off and even though he took his formidable opponent to 5-7 in the first set, he could only get to 3-3 in the second. The match was surprising for the number of dropped services—three by Simmonds and one by Fairlie in the first set, fourb y Simmonds and two by Fairlie in the second.

But this was an indication rather of the high standard of return of service. Fairlie’s backhand cross-court shots were a delight. Two members of this year’s

Davis Cup team, Parun and H. Broun (Auckland), were banished to a back court—and they had some fun there. Parun, the higher-rated of the pair although he recently lost to Broun, lost the first set, 3-6, before winning the next two, 9-7, 6-3.

They were not happy—not happy with each other, not happy with themselves but, above all, not happy with the balls. At the end of the second set Broun requested new balls but he was refused. Parun showed some of the form of which he is capable but he was not returning service well.

In the other matches, Clarke beat L. Legge (Canterbury) without the loss of a game; two Canterbury players, Mitchell and J. Martin, had a grand second set when Martin played some fine tennis before Mitchell won, 6-2, 10-8. Woolcott was too good for another Canterbury man, W. Thom, and Hawkes established control over D. A. Parun (Wellington). Miss Pryde has been making a name for herself in New Zealand tennis in the last few seasons because of her magnificent performances against older players. None will catch the imagination more than yesterday’s. Attacked At Net Miss Vercoe is a difficult woman to beat; she will never accept that she is beaten. She is not the most interesting of players to watch but she is a wonderful retriever and no shot is too hard. Miss Pryde has a greater variety of strokes and she knew that she would have to attack at the net if she was to succeed. She did this reasonably well although at times she was passed when she did not • get in quickly enough or went I in on the wrong shot, but she I showed the volley and smash are in New Zealand women’s tennis and can win points. The last set was tense. Miss Vercoe led 2-0, but Miss Pryde caught her and then held the odd game each time until Miss Vercoe broke her service for 7-6. Remarkably, Miss Vercoe, looking as if she had the match won, then lost the next game to love with a double fault at the end. But Miss Pryde rose to the occasion magnificently. The third-seeded Miss C. Fleming, of Auckland, had her first singles yesterday in the second round when she beat a Canadian visitor, Miss T. Booker, 6-3, 6-1. An attractive figure on the court, Miss Booker also had a strong service but she was beaten in the rest of the play by Miss Fleming’s steady ground strokes and good court coverage. Today’s Games The main matches in the Canterbury tennis championships today are: 9.30 a.m.—J. Mitchell v. 0. Parun; R. McCutcheon v. J. Lockington; Miss M. Pryde v. Miss J. Bishop; Miss A. Stevens v. Miss C. Fleming; D. A. Parun v. A. Guise; D. Turner v. J. Simpson. 10.15 a.m.—B. Fairlie v. R. Clarke; K. Woolcott v. R. Hawkes; Miss J. Bloxham v. Miss S. Collins.

The Rangiora Showgrounds where the 196768 national model aero championships are being held looks like a holiday camp, with tents and caravans housing competitors from all parts of New Zealand.

Yesterday was the opening day of competitions and a new record for class 1 speed models was set. The model of P. Lagan (Christchurch) reached 133.3 m.p.h., breaking the previous record of 128.6 m.p.h. Conditions were damp and unpleasant at East Eyreton, where radio-controlled and free-flight events were held, but 40 hardy entrants were out at 5.30 a.m. to compete. The afternoon programme was held in finer weather. The final of the N.A.C.-

Model Air teams’ race competition will be held at Rangiora today, and hand-held glider events will be contested at Cowles Stadium, Christchurch, this evening. Results: Nordic A/2.—P. Lagan (Christchurch) 1, F. Postlethwaite (Christchurch) 2, P. Clark (Palmerston North) 3. Time. 820 sec. Class A Radio.—C. Truman (Auckland) 1, G. B. Rootes (Wellington) 2, A. MacDonald (Christchurch) 3. Class B Radio. —M. Kendrick (Wanganui) 1, C. Truman (Auckland) 2. W. A. Richardson (Palmerston North) 3. Class 1 Speed.—P. Lagan (Christchurch) 1. P. Clark (Palmerston North) 2, P. Staples (Wanganui) 3. Speed, 133.3 m.p.h. Class 4 Speed.—G. Nally (Southland) 1, D. McAnnelly (Southland) 2, S. Townley (Tamaki) 3. Speed, 115.4 m.p.h. Stunt.—D. Tristram (Papatoetoe) 1, P. Wheeler (Kalapoi) 2, P. Staples (Wanganui) 3.