BAD DAY FOR N.Z. IN OPEN TENNIS Fairlie Defaulted; Parun And Hawkes Well Beaten
(From Our Tennis Reporter) AUCKLAND. Last year at Stanley Street, B. E. Fairlie, one of the best tennis players New Zealand has produced, made the first Benson and Hedges open tournament into a greater success than even the most optimistic hoped for by his brilliant wins over the professionals. M. A. Anderson and J. D. Newcombe. This year, he went out of the second round without playing a ball.
Drawn to meet the Australian, P. Dent, on a back court when the day opened at 11 a.m., Fairlie telephoned to say that he had a stomach upset, thought to have been caused by mushrooms he ate the evening before.
This match was put off; until 2 p.m., but Fairlie later reported that a doctor had; advised that he should not! play singles that day. Fairlie; added that he would be pre-) pared to play two singles to-) day instead if he won the' first However, the tournament) controller (Mr J. D. Moore) ruled that Fairlie be defaulted from the singles to keep the programme up to schedule. PARUN LOST FORM Yesterday, in a form of New Zealand v. Australia match, similar to that which will be played in Christchurch on February 7 and 8, New Zealand emerged rather badly! apart from the gallant efforts of one young player. In addition to the action taken against Fairlie, the second member of last year’s touring team of four, O. N. Parun, also caused officials to discuss another default when the first match on court one was over very quickly and Parun, scheduled to play in the second, was late arriving. When he did arrive, Parun lost to J. Alexander, also his conqueror at Wimbledon, when his play deteriorated after the first set and his demeanour suffered when he was disappointed with one or two calls. The third member of the side, R. N. Hawkes, of Canterbury, was not allowed a set by another Australian Davis Cup player, B. Ruffels, even though he was occasion-
ally able to volley Ruffels I out of position. But the day was saved from disaster by the youngest member of the team, J. Simpson, the 19-year-old North Shore boy, who took R. ■Crealy, a finalist in the Australian open last Tuesday, to five hard sets of thrilling Play.
I So, in tomorrow’s quarteri finals, there will be four Australians, an Englishman, a 'Dutchman, a Czech and a (Jugoslav—but no-one from the (host country. ( Simpson’s was a gallant] (losing performance. Only a | couple of years ago he was] ia slim boy; now he is a tall, (strong young man with prominent sideburns, and his tennis has matured with his| physical change.
He returned service con-1 sistently well throughout and) covered the court with ten-] acity, producing some brilliant passing shots from defensive positions which brought an embarrassed smile to Crealy’s face. But Crealy was not smiling !too much when the sets; (reached two-all. He became very businesslike, his stooping walk showing more purpose. Simpson had broken (service to take the last game iof the fourth set at 7-5, but (Crealy showed that he intended to win the fifth when he (broke service in the first game, and that was enough. ALEXANDER ONE UP Alexander beat Parun at Wimbledon but Parun later turned the tables when he beat the Australian at Merion, in the United States. Yesterday’s win put Alexander one up in their meetings, but if i Parun had retained his form lit might have been the other way. He has had a good tournament season and he served and volleyed his way through the first set as if another suc-
icess was a matter of time. Then Alexander, also armed with a strong service and overhead shots, played with considerably more purpose from the beginning of the second set, not allowing his service to be broken as it was in the first. Each held service until Parun lost the last game by smashing out when he had enough court for a lollipop. Alexander won the third, 6-3, but Parun looked determined to save the match and his reputation when he won his next serve to love. But Alexander replied in kind, and then broke Parun’s.
With this advantage he served very confidently for the rest of the set, not allowing Parun any chance to reply, and he finished the match with a stinger as a gesture of finality.
In the quarter-finals, Dent will nleet the Englishman, Taylor; Crealy will play the Czech, J. Kukal; Ruflels has drawn the Jugoslav, N. Pilic; and Alexander will meet the top seed, T. Okker (the Netherlands). The women’s semi-finals on Saturday will involve the first three seeds, but not the fourth, the little Scot, Miss W. Shaw. Like Parun, she won the first set of her quarterfinal with the tall, awkwardlooking Australian, Miss K. Krantzcke, who was runner-up last year, but lost the match, 0-6, 6-4, 6-3. However, the title-holder, Mrs A. Jones, who will next meet Miss Krantzcke, and the world’s top ranked woman, Mrs M. Court, who will play a compatriot, Miss K. Melville, appear the obvious finalists.
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Press, Volume CX, Issue 32209, 30 January 1970, Page 15
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863BAD DAY FOR N.Z. IN OPEN TENNIS Fairlie Defaulted; Parun And Hawkes Well Beaten Press, Volume CX, Issue 32209, 30 January 1970, Page 15
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