Beckenham wins relegation game

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33066, 6 November 1972, Page 18

Beckenham wins relegation game

Beckenham will be the fifth team in the Christchurch senior women’s tennis competition. In a relegation match at Wilding Park on Saturday, Beckenham beat Elmwood by the narrow margin of 66 games to 61 after they were equal in matches and sets.

The fixture was originally arranged for the previous Saturday but because Elmwood’s top player, Miss S. Field, was not available then, it was postponed to last Saturday with the agreement of Beckenham. Relegation matches are never popular because they leave one or two players of good senior standard without a place in the competition. -Mrs R. Hunt, top for Elmwood for several years but unable to play this season until after Christmas, will be one who is affected later in the season. Miss S. Field, who led Avonside last season but who returned to Elmwood for this season, is another who now has no place. In Saturday’s meeting, Miss A. Meates, a student at the physical education school at the University of Otago, who travelled to Christchurch especially for the match, beat Miss Field comfortably, 8-3, 6-2, and with the young Miss S. Chapman, who is improving rapidly to face her first senior season, beat Miss Field and Mrs A. Chambers in doubles.

The competition proper will begin on November 18. Rain stopped play in midafternoon when the senior men’s competition began. One of the three fixtures, between the new side, Linwood Avenue-Woolston, and United, had reached a decision because the combined team had won both doubles and two singles. North Linwood has also virtually won its contest with Edgeware because it leads by three matches to two and eight sets to five. Even if Edgeware won the remaining singles in two straight sets, it would still only have seven sets.

The other meeting, between the new side, Shirley, and Elmwood, is as yet undecided. Matches will be completed by arrangement because all make a difference to the points. The first day of the competition was notable for fine performances from some promising juniors playing for the first time nt senior ranks. For instance, S. Bums, a strongly built lad, a set. 6-0, from the Wilding Shield player, S. Menzies, before Menzies gained control.

Brsding, who had some difficulty when the rain got on his spectacles, also did well to beat P. Gilmour, 6-3. 6-3, when they played the last match to finish.

Results:— WOMEN Singles,—Miss A. Meates beat Miss E. Field, 6-3, 6-2: Miss S Moore lost to Mrs A. Chambers, 1-6, 5-7; Miss P. James lost to Miss E. Smith. 6-3, 4-6, 5-7; Miss S. Chapman beat Mrs L. Fitzgerald. 6-1, 6-4. Doubles.—Misses Meates and Chapman beat Miss Field and

Mrs Chambers, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; Misses Moore and James lost to Miss Smith and Mrs Fitzgerald, 1-6. 4-6. Beckenham won by 66 games to 61. MEN Edgeware v. North Linwood Singles.—S. Menzies beat S. Burns, 0-6, 6-4, 6-1; T. Mooney v. R. Bruce (unfinished); R. Prattley lost to T. Ralfe, 6-3, 2-6, 0-6; P. Gilmour lost to C. Brading, 3-6, 3-6. Doubles.—Menzies and Mooney beat Bums and Brading, 6-1, 1- 6-2; Pratley and Gilmour lost to Ralfe and Bruce, 1-6, 2Linwood Avenue-Woolston v. United Singles.—A, James v. R, Webster (unfinished); B. J. Aldridge beat N. Pattinson, 6-3, 6-2; N. Blackburn beat J. Taylor, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2; C. Hunt v. J. Dickie (unfinished). Doubles.—Hunt and Aldridge beat Pattinson and Taylor, 6-3, 6-4; James and Blackbum beat Webster and Dickie, 6-4, 6-4. Linwood Avenue-Woolston won by 4 matches to 0. First mixed A Avonside beat Beckenham by 9 matches to 2. Second mixed grade North Beach beat Eageware by 10 matches to 0.