“LADIES’ DAY" AT WILDING PARK Miss Goolagong produces crowd-pleasing tennis

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32522, 4 February 1971, Page 22

“LADIES’ DAY" AT WILDING PARK Miss Goolagong produces crowd-pleasing tennis

(By our tennis reporter) If the second day at Wimbledon each year is known as ladies’ day, the same description could be applied to the third day of the BP New Zealand tennis championships at Wilding Park yesterday.

The women’s field in this tournament is more distinguished than the men’s, and with the arrival of a new batch of overseas players the previous evening, yesterday’s matches were of a standard usually reserved for the later rounds of all New Zealand tournaments except the open.

The 19-year-old Australian Aboriginal, Miss E. Goolagong, was warmly applauded as she entered the centre court arena for her first match.

She is seeded to add the New Zealand title to the Victorian one she took on Monday when .she beat the world’s leading woman, Mrs M. Court. Champion at 15 And the present holder of this title, Miss M. Pryde, of Wellington, has gone from the field. In a group of such quality, including the Federation Cup teams of several nations and individual play-ers-from others, her demise was not as remarkable as it might seem. When she first won the championship at Wilding

I Park in 1968. Miss Pryde was [regarded as a prodigy be- | cause she was only 15. When [she won it again at Welling[ton last year she was only 17, and this in itself would have been a notable feat were it not for the earlier success.

But yesterday Miss Pryde had her hopes of getting to the later stages of this tournament dashed by a very fine Japanese player, Miss K. Sawamatsu, only two years older than herself.

That they met in the second round might seem a little strange. Miss Pryde was the top seed of the eight selected New Zealand women, Miss Sawamatsu was not included in the eight overseas seeds. Matching records But the Japanese woman is top in her country, she was the Japanese champion at 16, and she won junior Wimbledon in 1969, the year she was ranked the fourth under 21 woman in the world. So Miss Pryde’s achievements in- New Zealand have been matched pretty much by Miss Sawamatsu in Japan. Strongly built, Miss Sawamatsu hit with a big backswing, but her timing was good enough to get plenty of power and she swung the ball from side to side so much that in several rallies towards the end she had Miss Pryde gasping for breath. She played for the lines and sometimes got an angle which sent the ball leaping away short of the service

line. Miss pryde had a terrible time chasing these but apart from that she had difficulty keeping her own shots in court. Seeing double Miss Goolagong drew the spectators, and she certainly did not disappoint them, when she beat Miss A. Stevens, of Auckland, 6-3, 6-0. Her dancing feet and quick anticipation—those big eyes saw the ball as if it were twice the size—enabled her to make her shots surely anywhere, on the bounce, the half volley or the volley, the latter sometimes from the baseline.

She plays as well as most men and the suggestion that she would be an asset to a New Zealand Davis Cup side was far from extravagant. The backhand volley on the run with which she ended the first set would have-done any man credit.

Miss Stevens played gallantly, especially when she broke Miss Goolagong’s service for 3-5 in the first set, but she could not withstand the onslaught she faced from every part of the court. In the third round, Miss

Goolagong will meet Miss J. Sawamatsu, ranked third in Japan to her sister’s first, and then the winner of the meeting between another Japanese, Miss K. Hatanaka, and Miss L. Rossouw, one of the two South African girls in the tournament. Mrs G. Chanfreau, of France, formerly Miss G. Sherriff, of Australia, was another visitor who was very quick on her feet when she defeated Miss J. Amer, of! Auckland, 6-4, 6-0. Miss Amer had plenty of punch in her shots but her play lacked the sparkle of Mrs Chanfreau’s, whose contest with Miss Sawamatsu should be one of today’s highlights. Two places are vacant in the round of 16 because the two members of. the United States Federation Cup side, Misses P. Hogan and S. Walsh, were not expected to arrive in Christchurch until midnight last night.