Chris Lewis beaten in N.S.W. singles final

Press, 21 December 1981, Page 32

Chris Lewis beaten in N.S.W. singles final

NZPA Sydney Hardened American, Tim Wilkison, believes he will not fall for the same trap again after capturing ■ his second title in the $125,000 Robinsons N.S.W. tennis open at White City yesterday. The 22-year-old left-hander from North Carolina, pocketed $20,000 first prize and 150 Grand Prix points for brushing aside the New Zealander, Chris Lewis, 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 in just under, two hours in the best of five-set final. As a naive 19-year-old.

Wilkison. surprised the tennis world by capturing the 1978 N.S.W. open, beating John Alexander and Kim Warwick on the way to victory. '“This is by far my biggest win,” asserted Wilkison, who left high school at 17 to join the world tennis circuit. “This means a little more to me compared to last time. Then I was just a little kid coming up and it was the first time I had done anything. “When I won that tournament I thought I could do it

every week and it didn’t mean as much to me, but now in two years of losing a lot I now know how hard you have to play to win a tournament,” he said.

“I’m now mature enough not to get too carried away with myself and just to keep on working.” . Yesterday’s final was an anti-climax. Wilkison, ranked No. 122 in the world, had early breaks in all three sets and his swinging “leftie” serve had Lewis in strife. Wilkison became the fifth left-hander to win the N.S.W. open in the last decade. Tony Roche won in 1974, 1976, Roscoe Tanner in 1977 and Wilkison in 1978 and yesterday.

Twenty-four-year-old Lewis, who had not played a left-hander this week, found it hard to adjust to Wilkison’s serve.

“I’m very disappointed with the way I played,” said Lewis. “I think it was a combination of him playing so well and nerves on my part.” Wilkison’s pre-match plan was to keep the ball away from Lewis’s strong forehand.

I tried to serve as many

> as I could into his backhand and also I hit a few to his forehand just to keep him honest,” .Wilkison said.

“I did well until the very end, when I got a bit tight, ! chickened out and just hit them all to his backhand.”

Yesterday’s sweet victory could have been so different had Wilkison not saved two match points against Phil Dent in the second set and go on and win his quarter-final. “It’s really weird this tournament,” said Wilkison. “Three years ago I was down three match points to Hank Pfister in the third round and then I won the match and finally the tournament.” Lewis, playing in his fifth Grand Prix tournament final of the year, was surprised how well Wilkison played. “I was thinking what I could do to break up the rhythm of his serve, because I wasn't returning well,” said Lewis.

Lewis plans to buy a home in Melbourne within the next 12 months. “I’ve spent a lot of time there with Paul McNamee and Peter McNamara and I’ve also applied for membership at Kooyong. I just like it there,” he said.