Sad surprise for Czech girl

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34044, 7 January 1976, Page 22

Sad surprise for Czech girl

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Tennis has held many surprises for Renata Tomanova in the last few days. Over the week-end, the 21-year-old Czechoslovakian surprisingly reached the final of the Australian championships, and yesterday she suffered a shock firstround defeat at Stanley Street. A late entry in the Benson and Hedges open and seeded third. Miss Tomanova’s 6-7. . 4-6 defeat by a 20-vear-old (Australian, Kim Rudd’ell, was

| the main upset of the second day of the tournament. The only other seeded player to be eliminated was John Lloyd, of England. Seeded seventh, Lloyd went out 2-6, 6-7 to the unseeded Dick Crealy (Australia) in the second round. There was high praise from Miss Tomanova for her opponent. “She played very well, and her height (she is 6ft 2in) allowed her to cover the court extremely well.” Any disappointment felt by Miss Tomanova at her quick exit from the U.D.C. Finance women’s singles was cushioned bv the lingering elation she felt at reaching the final of the Australian women’s singles against Evonne Cawley.

“1 am not used to playing on grass and my effort at Kooyong was my best ever on a surface other than clay.” she said. In the Bank of New Zealand men’s singles, Brian Fairlie conceded only one game to Richard Hawkes (Wellington) in winning his second-round match. On that performance — Hawkes, too, was playing well and his errors were forced ones — Fairlie looked a likely finalist. While his Davis Cup teammate was advancing comfortably to the later rounds, Onny Parun again struggled to reach the last eight. Just as he found D. Bedel (France) a handful on Monday, so too did he find the West German team manager,

Harald Elschenbroich, a formidable adversary. The 34-year-old Elschenbroich was a Davis Cup player in 1966, 1972 and 1973 and yesterday he forced Parun to play his third tiebreaker set in the four sets he has contested so far in the singles. Much is expected of Parun, the title-holder, and he is taking some consolation in that his play "is improving with every match.” There was, however, little evidence of this when he partnered Fairlie to a closely fought doubles win against Bedel and Patrice Hagelauer (France). In this Columbus Travel event, the New Zealand pair had to play another two tie-

breaker sets —they won the first and lost the' second — before winning the third, 6-4.

Fairlie and Miss Tomanova combined in the Brambles International mixed doubles late in the day to beat K. Carpenter (Canada) and Beverley Vercoe (New Zealand). 7-5, 6-2.

Two players will take no further part in the tournament. Tony Parun (Wellington)- retired with a leg injury while Colin Letcher (Australia) is suffering from a kidney complaint. Paul Thomson (Auckland) and Bob Loftgren (United States) have been invited to replace them ' in the doubles.