Assured Miss Rolleston is reigning queen of tennis

Press, 3 February 1979, Page 10

Assured Miss Rolleston is reigning queen of tennis

Will Arleen Rolleston become another Ruia Morrison?

That was the question which many tennis buffs were asking at Wilding Park last week as the 17-year-old Maori girl from Rotorua mastered one opponent after another on the way to achieving an unbeaten singles record in the Wilson Cup matches against Australian state teams.

Miss Rolleston was the only player in any of the junior competitions — for the Linton, Wilson, and Wayne Reid cups — to score a “possible” of six consecutive victories in the singles. Playing at No 2 for New Zealand, she gained straight sets wins over her rivals except the last.

On the final morning the dainty Queensland lass with the upright spright stance Michelle Earl, dualled energetically with Miss Rolleston before losing, 6-8, in the third set. The New Zealand girl’s most important win was against Michellee Berrigan. ranked No 3 in Australia and a member of the winning Wilson Cup team from New South Wales two years ago. With the two New Zea-

land girls’ teams faring much better than their counterparts in the boys’ contests in the week at Wilding Park, greater opportunities for women’s tennis might follow. Miss Rolleston would find herself in the forefront of any development on the representative team front because of her excellent record and undoubted ability-

She is not as sprightly about the court as Ruia Morrison, one of the great personalities of women’s tennis, but a sprained ankle caused her withdrawal from the national championships, and she was at pains not to damage the ankle again in the Wilson Cup matches. New Zealand was the sole team to employ only two players throughout the six-day competition, but Miss. Rolleston and her partner, Bronwyn Corson, bore the burden uncomplainingly, and well. In the doubles, the girls won four of their six matches, three of them with fighting third set efforts, but Miss Corson found the going tough at No. 1 in the singles and won but twice. She hit

By

JOHN BROOKS

through the ball well, but made many avoidable errors, possibly because of momentary losses of concentration.

Arleen Rolleston had no such problems. She applied herself in a determined manner and, unlike her partner, was not given to outward expressions of dismay. When an Australian girl hit a winner against New Zealand, there was no change of expression on Miss Rolleston’s face. Invariably, in the next rally or two, she would produce an unplayable ball in return.

Although not a spectacular overhead player, the Bay of Plenty teenager is sound on the serve and the smash, and is an undemonstrative executioner at the net. Her greatest asset last week was her driving ability from the baseline. She had no difficulty in maintaining a stream of hard, flat shots which skimmed across the net. When she moved in for the volley, that was usually the end of the rally.

Before injury stopped her title bid two weeks ago, Miss Rolleston had

compiled an impressive record at national level. She had won New Zealand championships at under--15, under-17, and under-19 level, and is certain to play for the Wilson Cup for the third time next summer.

The indications are that New Zealand might well lift the trophy for the first occasion. Miss Rolleston will make an impressive No. 1, but Miss Corson will be battling to hold her place ahead of Ann Davidson (Canter-, bury) and Gay Robinson (Auckland). Also on the horizon will be the members of the

well performed Reid Cup team, notably Ruth Seeman (Otago). After dropping matches to three of the leading four ranked Australians, Miss Seemarr toppled the fifth,- sixth and seventh seeded players, displaying a wealth of promise as she did so. Miss Seeman and Janine Perkinson, a strong lefthander, were unbeaten in four doubles matches, and the graceful Simone Boyer chimed in with two singles wins from as many matches.

These girls will press hard for promotion in the next year or two. But, for the moment, Arleen Rolleston. of the unflappable temperament and sound all-court game, is queen of the courts.