TENNIS JUST BEAT THE RAIN... Hawkes made it warm for U.S. opponent

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33383, 15 November 1973, Page 26

TENNIS JUST BEAT THE RAIN... Hawkes made it warm for U.S. opponent

(By

A. M. MENZIES)

Seldom has the weather in Christchurch been so unkind to a tennis tournament. Australians, Americans, Indians, a German, a Czech, a Mexican, and a Peruvian, even New Zealanders, shivered at Wilding Park yesterday as the Benson and Hedges men’s tournament struggled through the first round.

But the organisers could count themselves lucky that the round was completed. The clouds hung ominously close all day until the rain necessitated the covering of the two centre courts at 4 p.m.

Any delays, such as the loss of all play on Tuesday, have strange repercussions in the hurly-burly of the world tennis circuit. The American, R. Dell, was booked to fly to Johannesburg yesterday for’ a tournament there if he was out of the singles. Top seed out Matched against the top seed, J. Fassbender (West Germany), who had a bye in the first round, Dell said he would be delighted to stay if he won. And win he did—to the surprise of some of his colleagues, but not to himself. So Dell remains, having earned himself S7OO by getting into the quarter-finals. Now he has the opportunity of raising that to at least $llOO by beating the winner between M. Holocek, the self-exiled Czech, and S. Stewart, another American. Again, he may feel he has a chance.

Exit MacMillan Dei! stayed, but a countryman went. Without further fuss K. MacMillan, the American who set a new racket-throwing record on Monday by clearing the stand, slipped out of Christchurch and landed in Los Angeles without the organisers even knowing he had gone. He has been replaced in the doubles. Fassbender looked as if he would justify his seeding when he controlled the ball much better than Dell and took the first set, 6-2. But Fassbender was relying on touch against the left-handed American, who suddenly found that by attacking consistently he could unnerve a formidable opponent, force him into error, and pass him. Dell also retrieved determinedly as he won the second set, 7-5. He was down, 2-4, in the third, but then went ahead again for 6-4. One of many It was not the most exciting match of the day. This was provided once again by a New Zealander who has done it so often at Wilding Park. R. N. Hawkes, a former Canterbury top man, now of Wellington, came up against M. Estep, an American known as "mighty mouse.” It was almost the humbling of the “mighty” when

Hawkes, with typical dedication, won the first set, 6-3, and led 3-0 and 40-15 in the second. Estep was troubled by the heavy courts and he was quick to mention it: “You get down in the back corner and there is nowhere to play because it is all muddy.” But the fact was that Hawkes returned service with some startling winners, and lobbed so nicely that Estep could not get back to pick them up when they were bouncing so low.

Hawkes lost his advantage in the second set as Estep began to concentrate when he saw defeat looming and they reached an excruciating tie-break. Estep had a lead of 5-1, but Hawkes, one of the greatest fighters New Zealand tennis has ever had, levelled at 6-6, before Estep won, 8-6. Hawkes had a lead of 3-2 in the third set, but he dropped his service to be 3-4. They then fought six deuces on Estep’s delivery before the American led 5-3. Hawkes was down 0-40 on his service, survived those three match points, and another, and won that game before he lost the last. It was a memorable effort. Two-set matches Other matches were all won in straight sets. New Zealand’s leading junior of last year, R. J. Simpson, played well for a time against the tall Holocek. He gained four games in the first set but then collapsed. One of the world’s finest players of the last decade, the amiable Australian, F. S.

■Stolle, who is about to retire from the hard grind of the world circuit, looks a bit thinner on top, and perhaps is a bit slower, but he was still able to beat a younger compatriot, J. Bartlett, 6-2, 6-4,

Bartlett put it across him with the occasional lob but Stolle won the ground-stroke exchanges. Australian winners The Mexican, M. Lara, was not forceful enough for K. Warwick, the Australian who was runner-up for the last New Zealand title, and the holder of the New Zealand title, S. Ball, used his considerable power to beat the remaining Indian, J. Singh, who looked delightful in yellow shorts. Fassbender has gone, but those seeded second and third to him, B. Gottfried and P. Gerken, have not yet played. They will have their opportunity today. It was a great pity to see, in the only doubles played yesterday, the young Australian, P. Kronk, serving only at half pace. Kronk has a back injury for which he saw a doctor yesterday, and it was far from the true Kronk playing when he and Warwick lost to A. Amritraj (India) and F. McNair (United States).