One seed removed in Maori tennis

Press, 28 December 1978, Page 4

One seed removed in Maori tennis

k Late sport J

NZPA Auckland There were few surprises on the first day of the National Maori tennis tournament at Stanley Street, Auckland yesterday. In the men’s singles all the seeded players had wins while in the women’s section only one seed, Sharon Grace was removed.

The third seeded Miss Grace was downed in the second round by the fifth women’s seed, Linda Stewart, 6-2, 6-4.

Both the top two men’s seeds Bruce Murdoch and Barry Smith cruised to relatively easy wins although Smith was given a good match by the powerful young player, Michael Hetaraka. Hetaraka eventually went

down 3-6, 4-6 in the midafternoon match. Murdoch’s victim in the second round, Jim Babington, did not extend the top seed with the score being 6-1, 6-1, for the game, although Murdoch at times appeared to be caught out of position by his stocky opponent. Arona Ngatai the first women’s seed, downed Anne Tatana in her first game of the tournament 6-1, 6-2. The best record so far in the tournament belongs to the eighth men’s seed, John Hall, who in two games has conceded just one set. In the first round he beat Malta Sydney, 6-0, 6-0, and in the second won 6-1 6-0, against Jean Pierra Breitenstein.