Tennis Woolston cheats fate for memorable win

Press, 25 October 1982, Page 15

Tennis Woolston cheats fate for memorable win

On the strength of a remarkable victory against the odds at Wilding Park on Saturday, Woolston will be

hard to beat in the Bank of New Zealand's mens senior tennis competition this summer.

The team started with a gigantic handicap of being two matches down before a ball had been hit because its captain. Colin Hunt, failed to appear. But by winning three of the subsequent matches and salvaging a set from the fourth. Woolston managed to beat Edgeware on a countback. The hero of the Woolston triumph was the young veteran. David Hunt, who

played with quiet but intense resolve in singles and doubles to avert potential disaster.

The Edgeware-Woolston contest was the only one to be completed before rain halted play on the opening

round of the senior competi tion. In other matches. United. Fendalton and Elmwood had all gained 3-1 leads against Bishopdale. North Linwood, and Shirley, respectively. A decision on whether the round will be resumed, and when, will be made by the competitions committee of the Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association. If it is decided to complete

the round at a later date. Fendalton will be gratified, for it is doubtful whether Alan Adair would have been able to tackle his singles assignment on Saturday. He suffered a badly cut left knee when crashing into the boundary fence during the doubles.' Although ,he resumed playing, his mobility was impaired and at the end of the match he was taken away for treatment.

However, the drama surrounding Adair was nothing compared with the tense feeling in Woolston’s camp when their captain failed to arrive at the park. Under the new rules adopted this season by the Canterbury association, players who are more than 15min late are automatically defaulted in both doubles and singles. Faced with this crippling handicap. Woolston’s three survivors began their determined fight-back, and three hours later walked off the courts, dazed but delighted by their efforts. John Adair kept repeating, "we’ve won, we've won." in an incredulous tone, for it seemed almost impossible that Woolston could have made up such a deficit. In the final analysis, it was Adair’s second-set success while losing the final singles to Logan Glass which- gave Woolston the edge. David Hunt and Adair put their side on the board with a doubles win against Glass and Simon Agar, and then Barry Taylor and Hunt took their opponents apart with purposeful singles displays. Glass played energetically in gaining Edgeware's only actual win, but Adair's clever variation of service in the second set gained him the vital toehold in the atch. Strangely, no-one watching seemed to realise that Woolston needed only one set in the final singles to clinch a memorable victory. The realisation did not strike home

until after Glass had won the final rallv.

United made a bright start against Bishopdale by winning both doubles in good style. Ralph Webster and Gary Lawson encountered early problems, but soon settled into a potent combination. Before the rain came. Bishopdale had made a defiant stand, with Vernon Aubrey. the new No. 1. holding his own against the experienced Webster. •

Although castigating himself for overdoing the lob. Mark Hammond displayed both strength and sublety in edging out the polished Ashley Wearne in three sets to open Bishopdale’s account. The battling Bruce Williams was unable to follow suit, and lost heavily to United’s Canterbury representative. Hugh Robinson. “I can’t recall his making one mistake in the second set." said Williams admiringly. The champion side. Fendalton, was without Alistair Chapman and Marty Searle, but Phillip Seeman and Mike Sibley put the side on top with straight sets singles wins after Seeman and Douglas Chapman had achieved a handsome doubles victory. Alan Adair's .heavy fall spoiled Fendaltoh’s chances in the top doubles, but North Linwood's Mike Purcell ,and Mark Wilson showed commendable application to come back vigorously in the third set after being outdistanced in the second. When the rain started to fall, Brett Hibbert was still prancing around on the court, one set up and eager to make it two against Elmwood's No. 1, Peter McCormack. Then McCormack, and everybody else, took a hasty look at the big grey rain clouds rolling in across the Port Hills and headed for the pavilion. Playing relaxed but authoritative tennis, Hibbert moved into a commanding

position against McCormack after combining effectively with Craig Roberts to gain Shirley's only success of the finished matches, in the doubles. Elmwood was without its two leading players. Rhett Mason and Richard Dalman. so Ken Elliott came out of retirement and combined with Phillip Murray to gain an important doubles win. At the time of the stoppage. Elliott and another veteran of the courts. David Haworth, were locked in a singles battle, after Murray and David Lawn had placed Elmwood in a favourable position with convincing singles wins.

Scores were:— Woolston 7 sets. Edgeware 6 B. Taylor beat S. Jamieson. 6-3. 6-1/C. A. Hunt lost to S. Agar, by default; D. Hunt beat J. Smith. 6-4. 6-0; J. Adair lost to L. Glass. 3-6. 6-4. 3-6. Taylor and C. Hunt lost to Smith and Jamieson, by default; D. Hunt and Adair beat Agar and Glass. 6-3. 7-5. United 3. Bishopdale 1 R. D. Webster v. V. Aubrey. 4-5 (unfinished); H. Robinson beat B. Williams. 6-3, 6-0; A. Wearne lost to M. Hammond. 3-6. 6-2. 5Webstar and G. Lawson beat Aubrey and Williams. 2-6. 6-2. 6- Robinson and Wearne beat S. Baird and Hammond. 6-4. 6-4. Fendalton 3, North Linwood 1 P. Seeman beat B. Skjellerup. 6- 6-2: M. Sibley beat M. Wilson. 7- 6-2; D. Chapman v. S. Vandenberg. 6-7. 2-0 (unfinished). A. Adair and Sibley lost to Purcell and Wilson. 4-6, 6-1. 3-6: Seeman and Chapman beat Vandenberg and Skjellerup. 6-2, 6-4. Elmwood 3. Shirley 1

P. McCormack v. 8.. Hibbert. 3-6 (unfinished); D. Lawn beat C. Roberts. 6-0. 7-6: P. Murray beat P. Fitzmaurice. 6-3. 6-0; K. H. Elliot v. D. W. Haworth. 5-5 (unfinished). McCormack and Lawn lost to Hibbert and Roberts. 4-6, 4-6; Murray and Elliott beat Fitzmaurice and Haworth. 7-6. 6-2.