Beverley's big challenge

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32361, 29 July 1970, Page 15

Beverley's big challenge

leading tennis player, I. Beverley, who reached the semi-finals of the last New Zealand men’s singles championship, has now completed a full programme in England and is on his way to play a series of tournaments on the clay surfaces of the Continent Arriving in England in April for his second overseas tour, he was intent on gaining as much tournament play as possible before he set out on - what he acknowledges will be “the most demanding physical challenge I have yet had.” In the course of preparing himself for this challenge he has played in eight tournaments and has gained some notable scalps on the way. His first major success came in only the second tournament after he arrived in the country, at Hurlingham. Though he was beaten in the final of the level singles by the Frenchman, P. Domingiez, he downed the Nigerian No. 1, T. Onibokum, and a leading English junior, G. Newton. In his next tournament, at Surbiton, he beat an American C. Steel, in the first round, only to meet and lose to the eventual winner, R. Maud, the South African No. 2, in the second round. For Beverley these matches were preliminaries to the all-important qualifying matches for Wimbledon. Here he was drawn against

a Frenchman, J. Meyer. Beverley played himself into the position of being two sets to one up and, having broken Meyer’s service in the fourth set, was serving to achieve a 3-1 lead. Reflecting on the rest of the game he said, “my service left me and I went on to lose the fourth set After this, Meyer obtained only one service break in the final set, but this was enough to give him the set at 6-4, and the match.” Two tournaments have followed this and in the last one, he achieved three notable wins. In his second round match he beat the Pakistani, Saeed Maer, and followed this with a threeset win over an Indian player, J. Royappa. This left him in the quarter-finals to play the top seed for the tournament, Stanley Matthews, the son of the famous footballer and the seventh ranked English player. In this match he played some of his very best tennis to win in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. He was unable to retain this form, however, on the following day and was beaten in a semi-final by A, Pattison, the South African No. 4. Now match fit and playing up to his true form, he is looking forward to the Continental challenge of the next few months before he heads back to New Zealand for the home circuit.