Laver Favoured To Repeat Victory

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32031, 4 July 1969, Page 7

Laver Favoured To Repeat Victory

(N.Z.P.A -Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON.

The Australian, R. A. Laver, master exponent of lawn tennis, will go into the semi-finals of the men’s singles at Wimbledon today a hot favourite to take another step toward retaining his title.

For the second successive year, the topseeded Laver will meet America’s leading player, A. R. Ashe, at the same stage of the tournament.

Last year, the Australian won, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4, and went on to become Wimbledon’s first open champion.

The wiry Negro showed ragged form in early season tournaments in Europe but in recent rounds at Wimbledon he has produced something like the touch which won him the United States open title last September. Finesse v. Power But Ashe, seeded fifth, will need to maintain his rhythmic stroking to have any chance of stemming Laver’s powerful left-handed blows. The other semi-final will bring together two rugged Australian professionals, A. D. Roche, the No. 2 seed, and J. D. Newcombe, seeded sixth. Newcojnbe was Wimbledon’s last amateur champion, in 1967, while Roche was the beaten finalist against Laver a year ago.

Surprise Winner Newcombe has looked most impressive in this tournament, and among his wins was a sparkling display against the No. 3 seed, T. S. Okker, of the Netherlands. In contrast, Roche, a great battler, has had a tough passage and in the previous round scrambled home only after saving three match points against the American, C. S. Graebner.

The defending champion, Mrs B. J. King (United States) and Mrs A. Jones (Britain) yesterday qualified to meet in the women’s singles final. But the paths taken by the two professionals were in sharp contrast.

Mrs King, the title-holder for the last three years, crushed a fellow Californian, Miss R. Casals, 6-1, 6-0, in 28 minutes. The match was so one-sided it never raised the capacity centre court to any excitement.

However, the spectators ex-

ploded into a mighty patriotic roar to salute Mrs Jones’s triumph over the top-seeded Mrs M. Court, ot Australia, after a thrilling, wavering duel lasting 2hr 3min. The 30-year-old British lefthander, eight times a semifinalist in 11 years, soared to her most dramatic win by 10-12, W, 6-2. The fourth-seeded Mrs Jones, Britain’s most consistent and tenacious player for more than a decade, has only once before reached the final —in 1967 when she lost to Mrs King, 3-6, 4-6. Decided To Retire

Her victory yesterday wrecked Mrs Court’s hopes of achieving the grand slam of the world’s four major titles on her last world tour. The 27-year-old Australian has won the Australian and French titles and needed to win at Wimbledon and Forest Hills to emulate the 1953 “slam” of the late Mrs Maureen Connolly Brinker. Afterwards, Mrs Court confirmed that she would retire at the end of the current season.

“After chasing around for so long, I have got to make a break some time and this will be it,” she said. Mrs Court revealed that she had suffered a bad attack of cramp in her calf at 2-2 in the third set. She had had similar trouble over the last few months. But the Wimbledon champion of 1963 and 1965 was quick to praise her conqueror. “I have never seen Ann play so well,” she said. “After the first set I thought her game would break down but it did not.” Rose Above Tragedy The most important thing Mrs Jones did throughout the match was to write off to ex-

perience her disastrous spell which cost her the chance of winning the opening set and which could have coloured her whole attitude to the match. She had a 5-2 lead and two set noints but lost the set, 10-12.

Instead, Mrs Jones took stock, realised that she and not Mrs Court was the better player on the day, and got on with the job of winning. Mrs Court, a tigress on the few occasions she really got command of the net, battled to press home her advantage, but her service went down in the opening game of the second set and continued to go down at regular intervals. Mrs Court can be the most majestic player in the world but yesterday she was reduced to picking up games where she could. She led 2-1 in the second set but it was the last time in the match that she was in front. Remorselessly, Mrs Jones ran her to the four corners of the court to take the second set, then brushed the Australian aside in the third with a flourish of four successive games.