Chch players show out

Press, 23 June 1978, Page 24

Chch players show out

The young Christchurch tennis players, Peter Hampton and Brett Hibbert, who are at present playing in the doubles qualifying rounds at Wimbledon, have made good headway in their United Kingdom campaign. Hampton distinguished himself in the Kent championships at Beckenham by gaining a first-round victory against the famous Charlie Pasarell, the 34-year-old Puerto Rican who was once ranked top in the United States. Hampton won, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. In the second round Hampton was knocked out of

the singles by Don Schneider (South Africa), 6-3, 6-4, but he added more lustre to his record by eliminating last year’s junior Wimbledon champion, Van Winitsky (United States) in a semi-final of the under-21 event. But another American, Jeffrey Austin, beat him, 6-2, 6-4, in the final.

Earlier, Austin had taken Phil Dent (Australia) to three sets before losing in the open singles. In an English Masters’ tournament, Hibbert joined forces with John Paish (England) to finish runners-up in the men’s doubles — after

eliminating the secondseeded pair, Dale Collings (Australia) and Richard Bevan (Wales), in the semifinals. Hibbert, who has been invited to play on the Pernod circuit, lost his first-round singles match in the Masters event, but still gained his first A.T.P. point, which enables him to qualify for a world ranking. Hampton already has an A.T.P. point, from the Benson and Hedges tournament in Auckland, and both he and his Shirley clubmate can look forward to being named about 400th in the world later in the year.