Laver And Roche Put Pros Back On Top Place

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31723, 5 July 1968, Page 11

Laver And Roche Put Pros Back On Top Place

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON. The professionals of world tennis have finally won their battle at the first Wimbledon open championships. Two from their decimated ranks—the 29-year-old R. A. Laver and the 23-year-old A. D. Roche—will meet in the men’s singles final.

And it will be the eighth all-Australian men’s final in 13 years.

Both beat American amateurs on the sunlit centre court in yesterday’s semifinals. The top-seeded Laver, in a superb, 75-minute display of ruthlessly efficient power tennis, crushed the thirteenth seed, A. R. Ashe, 7- 6-2, 64. Roche, seeded fifteenth, took 2hr 20min to wear down the unseeded C. Graebner, 9-7, 8- 64, 8-6. So, after all the thrilling upsets achieved by amateurs in earlier rounds, the professionals survived the battering of their image to emerge triumphant. It was the turn of the women to produce the upsets yesterday. In the quarterfinals, the second favourite, Mrs M. Court, twice champion, was beaten 4-6, 8-6, 61, by a fellow Australian, Miss J. Tegart, and the American, Miss N. Richey, defeated Bra-

zil’s three-times former titleholder, Miss M. E. Bueno, 64, 62. Miss Tegart and Miss Richey, winner of the recent French open, both amateurs, will meet in one of today's semi-finals. The other will be an allprofessional clash between Mrs B. J. King (United States), the title-holder for the last two years, and Mrs A. Jones (Britain). They met in the 1967 final when both were amateurs. UNYIELDING LAVER Laver’s match against Ashe, an Army lieutenant from West Point, was a chilling, unyielding performance. Before a packed crowd of 14,000, Laver broke Ashe's opening service on the fast court. Although the American was able to level the score in the fourth game when Laver’s service was a little less deadly, Ashe virtually was a beaten man. The red-haired Laver, using his backhand service returns to the greatest effect, took a 4630 lead on Ashe's service in the eleventh game. Under pressure, Ashe produced a fine forehand volley to Laver’s far court which, under normal circumstances, would have been a certain winner. But Laver, going for everything, sprinted the width of the court, lunged with his left arm, and sent the ball sizzling across the net to win the game. Laver took the first set, 7-5, in 30 minutes by bolding his next service to 15. He struck again in the third game of the second set, taking full advantage of Ashe’s more frequent backhand and volleying errors.

Then, in the seventh game of the set, Ashe was in serious trouble. He put four backhands into the net, and after four deuces, drove a forehand shot out of court to give Laver the advantage. SERVICE FAILURE

A double fault, one of three that Ashe served during the match, cost him the game and put him 2-5 down. Laver held his service to love, to take tlie second set, 6-2, in 27 minutes.

The Australian went to 4-0 in only 10 minutes of the third, but surprisingly dropped his second service of the match in the eighth game after a long, face-to-face duel over the net, which Ashe finished with a cross-court volley. However, Ashe had left his run too late and could not save the situation. Laver was

able to serve out the set in the tenth game. The women's quarter-finals were relegated to second place by the drama of the men’s matches, but Miss Tegart’s was a splendid victory. She overcame an early bout of nerves and the loss of the first set to win. Miss Tegart won a titanic second set in the fourteenth game after Mrs Court had double faulted. This win gave her great confidence, and Miss Tegart moved into the net and swooped on every loose ball to take a 5-0 lead and an unbeatble position in the final set.