Belkin Main Obstacle To Another N.Z. Tennis Win

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32322, 13 June 1970, Page 13

Belkin Main Obstacle To Another N.Z. Tennis Win

(By

Our Tennis Reporter)

Before the New Zealand Davis Cup team’s first-round tie with Mexico, the circumstances in favour of New Zealand engendered the thought: “If New Zealand can’t beat Mexico this time, she never will.”

By the same token, the feeling now arises: “If New Zealand can’t win a second-round tie this time, she never will.”

New Zealand had lost to Mexico three times in four meetings but won the fifth in Mexico City last month—only after an excruciating effort to recover from 1-2 down.

Last week-end, as expected, Canada beat Commonwealth Caribbean, 5-0, in the other fixture of the northern section of the American zone and will meet New Zealand in the section final at Winnipeg this week-end.

HEARTENING NEWS Just before the* match with Mexico, the manager of the New Zealand team (Mr E. D. White) sent the news that B. E. Fairlie was again serving with full power. Now before the match with Canada, Mr White has sent heartening news again—that Fairlie beat the Canadian No. 1, M. Bel-

kin, last week in straight sets in a tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the 21 entries it has made for the cup since 1923, New Zealand has not won a second match—but most of its second-round opponents have been a great deal stronger than Canada. That the New Zealanders will now fall into the trap of taking

Canada too lightly, however, is unlikely because Belkin is a player of considerable ability and experience.

For three of the last four years, Canada has been in the European zone. In 1966, it beat Finland 4-1, Belkin winning both his singles, but lost 0-5 to France; in 1967, it lost to England, 1-4, after Belkin had beaten M. Sangster in four sets and lost in five to Taylor. LOST TO LOYO MAYO Canada lost 0-5 to Mexico the next year when Belkin played only one singles and was beaten, 14-16, 6-4, 3-6, 3-6, by J. Loyo Mayo, who beat Fairlie but lost to A. Parun this year. Last year, back in the European zone, Canada beat the Netherlands, 8-2 (Belkin won both his singles and the doubles), and lost to Russia 1-4, when Belkin beat T. Lejus in five sets but retired when he was leading A. Metreveli, 6-2, 9-8. So Belkin has been the stalwart of the Canadian side for five years and, including the tie with Commonwealth Caribbean last week-end, has the admirable singles record of eight wins and five losses in 13 played. Apart from that, he has a high reputation as a tournament player in the United States. In a burst of success last July, he beat J. Alexander (Australia), P. Guzman (Ecuador) and C. Richey, third in the United States, to reach the sem-finals of the Washington Star tournament, and then defeated the Egypt-

ian, 1. El Shafei, in a play-off for the third place. He beat P. Dent (Australia) and S. Smith, now the American No. 1, before losing to Richey in . a Western championships semi-final; and he beat G. Goven (France) and J. Osborne, ninth in the United States, before losing 6-2, 5-7, 2-6, to A. Ashe in the national clay-court championships. LACK OF PARTNER

This is an impressive list of vitcims for a clever player with a neat double-handed backhand, but the indications are that he has not been playing as well this year and Canada’s problem for several years has been to find a cup player to support him. His present colleague, J. Sharpe, has not yet shown he is of similar standard, and the New Zealanders would be able to cope with P. Burwash, who has had two seasons here, and who played the final singles last week-end after the result had been decided.

Since leaving Mexico, Fairlie and Parun have been practising in Los Angeles and have played in the Oklahoma tournament before going to Winnipeg. After his win over Belkin, at Tulsa, Fairlie went on to win the tournament by defeating the United States No. 6, T. Edlefsen, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, with power and con-

trol on a (flay court. Parun lost his first-round singles but they reached the doubles final.

Environment disadvantages like those which have always played such an important part in New Zealand’s ties in Mexico should not be present to the same extent in Canada, so that if Fairlie can hold his often fragile form and Parun can play as gloriously as he did in Mexico City, the elusive second-round victory may be closer than it has ever been.