French and fancy

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32778, 1 December 1971, Page 15

French and fancy

A PETITE, 28-year-old Frenchwoman, Francoise Durr, is an exciting player, her achievements a credit to tactics, concentration, perseverance and a fine tennis brain. In 10 years in top tennis, she has been one of the world’s best doubles players and has won a good many singles titles as well. Bom in Algiers, Miss Durr moved to Paris when she was 14 and her first success was the French closed title in 1962. In 1965 she was Wimbledon doubles runnerup and by the end of 1967 she had become the third woman in the world. That

Miss Melville A PRETTY Australian girl was runner-up to Mrs Ann Jones in the second Benson and Hedges New Zealand Open at Auckland in 1970. At that stage she was ranked seventh among the world’s first 10 women and she has risen to sixth since. Athletic but neat of build, she has a solid serve, a good volley and is particularly potent on the forehand. These weapons and her extreme fitness have enabled her to score some fine victories over the likes of Mrs King and Mrs Court. Bom in Sydney, she now lives in Melbourne, and at the age of 24 is a seasoned world circuit player.. In 1967 she reached the semi-finals of the Australian and French singles, in 1968 she was Australian doubles champion and a member of the winning Federation Cup side; in 1969 she was Italian runner-up, Dutch champion and United States semifinalist; and in 1970 she was Australian runner-up, New Zealand runner-up with a win over Mrs Court, Wimbledon doubles semi-finalist, Marlboro open winner, German doubles champion and Dutch runner-up.

Miss Hunt PERTH is the home town x of Mrs Margaret Court and bom there also was Lesley Hunt It was appropriate that when the Federation Cup was held in Perth last December both Mrs Court and Miss Hunt were members of the winning Australian team. The other was Miss Goolagong. Aged 21, Miss Hunt was Australian junior champion in 1967 and 1968. In 1968 she was also French junior champion and runner-up in the Wimbledon junior invitation. In 1969 she beat Mrs Dalton and Mrs Jones in the West Australian open and retained her Australian junior title for the third year while reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian open.

year was French champion and German champion, and she reached the semi-finals at Forest Hills.

She has never recaptured that high place in the world rankings—she was ninth at the end of last year—but she is frequently runner-up or semi-finalist in singles and her doubles wins are many, including the French (four times), United States, South African and German, and three times runner-up at Wimbledon.

Miss Durr was for a time from 1968 a contract professional with Mr George MacCall’s National Tennis League but later returned to independent status and is now a member of Mrs Heldman’s group.

Miss Ziegenfuss PROM San Diego, California, the 22-year-old Valerie Ziegenfuss is noted for her strength overhead both in service and smash. She is considered one of the most promising women the United States has produced in recent years and also one of the most attractive on the court;

In 1966 she made an early claim to fame when she beat Mrs King in the Pacific South-West championships. In 1967 she won the United States national girls* 18 doubles for the third time and as a junior beat Winnie Shaw and Judy Tegart in the United States championships. Her doubles play has been outstanding and in 1969 and again this year she was a doubles semi-finalist at Wimbledon. Mrs Dalton

JUDY DALTON has been playing the World circuit for a good many years now but her achievement in reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals again this year shows she is as good as she ever was. She has a big service and an attacking game, but she is just as well known for her friendly Australian heartiness and good humour. Bom in Melbourne, the daughter of a former Irish soccer international, she was fonnerly Judy Tegart. Now 33, she has an enviable record in both singles and doubles, including. the runner-up prize in the women’s singles at Wimbledon in 1968.

She was doubles champion of Australia in 1964 and 1970 (with Mrs Court); she and Mrs Court have made a formidable doubles pairchampions of France 1966, Wimbledon 1969, United States Open 1970. She has won the Australian mixed and has been runner-up in the Wimbledon mixed and the United States mixed.