FAIRLIE IN QUARTER-FINAL Two Professional Seeds Beaten

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31902, 1 February 1969, Page 15

FAIRLIE IN QUARTER-FINAL Two Professional Seeds Beaten

(f rom Our Tennis Reporter'

AUCKLAND.

The 20-year-old Aucklander, B. E. Fairlie, received another great boost to his tennis confidence at Stanley Street yesterday when he became the first New Zealander to beat a professional.

He will leave on another overseas tour next week richer in confidence and also richer financially because he will now play the 1967 Wimbledon champion and fifth-ranked world player, J. Newcombe, for $640. Even if he loses, he will receive $280.50.

Fairlie met the 33-year-old Australian, M. Anderson, a member of Mr L. Hunt’s professional troupe, and won in three comparatively quick sets, the first of them without the loss of a game, the others, 6-3, 6-4.

But the Anderson in the second round of the first New Zealand open tournament, the Benson and Hedges Open, for which he was seeded eighth, was a pale shadow of the Anderson who played some wonderful tennis in New Zealand after he turned professional in 1959. Once a winner of the United States singles, he beat players such as Sedgman. Rosewall and Segura after he changed his status but played little for a few years until last year and even then he scored a win over Laver. If Anderson’s game has deteriorated, credit must still be given to Fairlie for one of his finest matches. In the last few months he has won the five major tournaments in New Zealand, the first player to do so, and has also

beaten by the United States Davis Cup player, S. Smith. A real test of this standard .will be his match with Newcombe today. Concentration Fairlie has already received one professional offer, which he has declined, and his victory over Anderson showed the offer was justified. Playing before 3000 Auckland tennis supporters, most of whom were probably FairJie supporters, he was all business and purpose. From the start, when he broke Anderson’s service in the second game, he was devoted in his concentration and impressive in his quick reaction and speed' of shot It was the second game of the second set before An-

derson won a game and looked dejected as Fairlie passed him swiftly down the lines time and again and made the gaps look huge. Anderson improved but he could never break Fairlie’s service, and some of his mistakes were so simple that he held his hands to his head in horror. If Fairlie distinguished himself by beating a professional, his Davis Cup teammates, the Wellingtonians, O.

Parun and R. N. Hawkes, did not fare so well.

Parun, who was down, 4-6, 1-2, to R. Gonzales when play stopped on Thursday, lost the second set by the same score and could take only one game in the third. Gonzales gave a lesson in relaxed, easy stroking. Gonzales likes everything to be ship-shape about the court and about his person. His towelling operations at the cross-over were careful and deliberate, he studiously removed an extraneous par-

tides from the court—he even executed a worm—and he had a quiet word with umpires or ball boys when all was not his liking. He is still a great player, still quick enough to get to most shots Parun could send him, at the same time catching Parun yards out of position with sizzling passes hit with a jerk of the body backwards. He is an imposing figure on and off the court. Hawkes was seldom in It with Newcombe. As usual, he did not give away points easily and he scampered tenaciously round the court, returning shots that many another might leave, but the left-handed Australian had too much power and too much variety. However, another New Zealander brought himself glory and a great deal of personal satisfaction.

The Aucklander, D. J. Simmonds, who has been close to Davis Cup selection a number of times, almost upset the world’s leading player, R. A. Laver. Laver made many mistakes with the slashing winners he attempted. In the first set he hit the net cord frequently and later he had difficulty finding his touch with the lines, but when he was successful ’with his sharply angled shots, Simmonds had little chance. Very Sound Simmonds won his points by playing very soundly. He put his first service into play many times and he cut his errors to a minimum so that Laver had to win every point. Simmonds was not overawed by the reputation of his opponent yesterday. He anticipated well, his positional play was always intelligent and he was able to give the world champion some delightful rallies. Mr H. Hopman would not have been pleased with the play of the second member of his Davis Cup team, R. Ruffels, who lost to the Russian, T. Lejus, in the only four-setter of the day. With a crew-cut head and determined face above a strongly-built body, Lejus played carefully and unemotionally, a former Wimbledon junior champion, he has a good stroke repertoire and he took advantage of any errors. The Australian left-hander sliced and chipped and tried for delicate drop shots but they were not often successful. Ruffels showed a spark of form when he won the third set and he was still forcing at the beginning of the fourth set but he soon collapsed and seemed little interested in the rest of the match. Ruffels was seeded sixth and Lejus was unseeded. Quarter-Finals In the quarter-finals today, Laver will meet Lejus, A. D. Roche (Australia) will play R. Taylor (Britain), Newcombe will meet Fairlie, and Gonzales will play R. Moore (South Africa). Late yesterday afternoon Taylor had more power than J. Chanfreau (France) and the “hippie,” Moore, sporting a shirt with a “gonk” and the word, “Rebel,” on it, beat the Japanese champion, K. Watanabe.

Vivacious and bubbling with energy, the delightful Mrs B. J. King showed why she has won the Wimbledon title three years in succession when she beat the former New Zealand champion, Mrs R. Morrison-Davy, 6-2, 6-1. They began in fine humour when they could not get started because balls kept flying from adjacent courts and when they could not change ends because there was no way past umpires’ stands at each side of the court. These two short women held the net down while each struggled over. Then Miss King swung into her shots with abandon and she varied her length so successfully that Mrs Davy was sometimes standing on the base-line when drop shots landed just over the net.