N.Z.’.s TOP MAN IN SEMIFINALS Parun fights back after first-set loss

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33675, 26 October 1974, Page 48

N.Z.’. s TOP MAN IN SEMIFINALS Parun fights back after first-set loss

(By

J. K. BROOKS)

Two Americans, an Australian and a New Zealander were left in the singles of the Benson and Hedges tennis classic after exciting quarterfinal matches at Cowles Stadium yesterday.

O. Parun kept New Zealand hopes alive by qualifying for the semi-finals, in which he will meet the left-handed Australian, R. O. Ruilels.

The United States is assured of having a man in the final; either the top-seeded R. Tanner, from Tennessee, or A. Mayer, of New York. They were fellow students at Stanford University.

But the American most spectators expected to see in the final. C. Richey of Texas, became one of the six seeded players to suffer the bitterness of defeat.

He was eliminated by Ruffels, who has now had four successive wins against his American rival.

Three of the quarter-finals were hard-fought affairs, but Tanner was too good for last year’s winner, F. S. Stolle

(Australia), and won with ease in straight sets. Parun, who beat the lofty Australian, R. D. Crealy, and Ruffels both won their matches after losing tiebreakers in the first .set.

The unseeded Mayer, who had eliminated the fourthranked I. El Shafei on the previous day, accounted for the sixth seed, J. Fassbender, in the other match, after losing the first set by a wide margin. Loss of sleep “I was hit by cramp in a leg muscle in going for an overhead shot in my singles, and I didn’t finish my doubles until after midnight,” Mayer said, referring to his matches of the previous day. “It took me two hours and a half to get to sleep after all that, and my legs felt a little rubbery in the first set today.” Fassbender, resplendent in an orange sweat shirt from Cow Palace (San Francisco), moved confidently into an early lead, but from the second set onwards the energetic Mayer called the tune, pumping shots past the West German from all angles. Wrong end of call There were occasional counter-attacks from Fassbender, but, ironically, his doubles partner, H. J. Pohmann, ruled against him in a border-line decision on the baseline to end the last kicker of resistance.

Parun, melancholy of appearance, even in victory, joned Tanner as the only other survivor of the seeded players. Crealy was loud in his self-reproachment as he rivalled A. J. Ebert, the weight-lifter, in sound effects, before the moment of principal exertion. Although Parun often appeared to be hynotised by Crealy’s red shirt — he hit a vast amount of shots

straight to his rival — he was able to break the pattern effectively with sharplyangled winners. “Sitters” missed His control at the net was most marked, but he missed some “sitters” from further back through hitting too high and too hard. Crealy scored well in the cross-court battle, but fell into error more frequietly into error more frequently than his opponent. Fortunes fluctuated giddily in the Ruffels-Richey match, especially in the final set, in which there were five service breaks. At 5-5, Ruffels was down 15-40 on Richey’s service. “I was in a lot of trouble at this stage, but I hustled out of it to win the game and then held my service to take the match,” he said. “But I wasn’t certain of victory until the final point was played.” The standard of pl?y was consistently high, Ruffels proving equal to the task of matching Richey’s strong allcourt game. “I always have good.

close games with him,” Ruffels said. “Certainly, I had a plan of attack there are always little things I like to do against my opponents. “The first set is always crucial, and I made unforced errors to lose in the tiebreaker. But I managed to get my nose in front from then on.”

Richey, complaining of leg muscle trouble, later withdrew from the doubles, in which he had reached the quarter-finals with R. N. Hawkes. Poor Stolle, the father figure of the field, failed to foot it with the athletic Tanner, who broke his rival’s service three times. Tanner’s big serve and his agility about the court were the best features of his display.