Rising stars put on show at Open

Press, 10 January 1984, Page 26

Rising stars put on show at Open

PA Auckland Excitement not usually associated with the first two rounds of the New Zealand Tennis Open was provided on the first day yesterday by younger players, with two gaining impressive wins and two others extending former champions of the event.

Their performances gave the sixteenth Benson and Hedges Open at Stanley Street stadium the exciting atmosphere of world class tennis which usually does not appear until the third day of the tournament. Steven Guy, the 24-year-old Wellingtonian just graduated from Wichita University, Kansas, was among the surprising but well-deserved winners. Serving well, Guy beat the American, John Austin, who is ranked 184th in the world, some 500 places better than himself.

In winning his Fresh-up men’s singles, 7-6, 6-3, Guy served eight aces in the first set and three in the second to lead the tally of most aces served by a player during the week. There is a $lOOO prize for the most aces. , Guy had looked to be set for a 6-3 first set win. However, nerves struck when he was serving for set and he allowed Austin to break his service ' for the only time in the contest

At 4-5 down, Austin put a little extra into his serves and strokes to equalise at 55 and forced a tie-breaker

as each player held service to 6-6. Guy won the tiebreaker 7-5 for the set.

In the secnd set, Guy was unplayable with his powerful serves, shattering Austin’s resistance and from 3-3 the match repidly went to Guy 6-3. Dan Saltz, a 22-year-old tennis scholarship holder at the University of California, Los Angeles, for the last four years, was the second new professional player to win.

His 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory against 1982 winner of the Benson and Hedges doubles, Jonathon Smith, of Britain, was another indication that the rising stars cannot be taken lightly. Basic skills learned on the hard American collegiate tennis arena coupled with speed upset the Englishman. There was so little margin in the results of former Benson and Heges winners, John Alexander (1983) and Vijay Amritraj (1977), against Leif Shiras (United States) and Jerome Vanier, (France) that an upset was always possible. Alexander, the former Australian Davis Cup star, needed two tie-breakers to beat Shiras, the world’s 181st player, while Amritraj from India won 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 over Vanier.

Alexander won because of his experience and cool head while Shiras, a 23-year-old Houston, Texasbased former Princeton University player, allowed a point loss to upset him. Alexander won the tie-

breakers 7-2, 7-3. Amritraj was slow around the court for most of his match, but he dominated the net in the last three games which clinched victory for him. Vanier, aged 24, who is yet another product of American university tennis, lost the first set 7-2 in the tie-breaker but took the second 6-4. Poised for an upset win when he broke the Indian’s service to go 4-3 in the final set, Vanier could not cope with the sudden surge of energy from Amritraj. Amritraj broke back for 4-4, held his own service and broke again in the tenth game for the match. A second good performance by a New Zealander was that of a likely Davis Cup squad member, Bruce Derlin, who had the ill-luck to strike the third seed, Wally Masur (Australia), in the first round. Derlin said he could have won had he not been given a bad call on his own service when he was fighting back , in the third set. Results in men’s singles first round:— V. Amritraj (India) beat J. Vanier (France), 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 6-4; J. Alexander (Aust.) beat L. Shiras (U.S.), 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3); D. Saltz (U.S.) beat J. Smith (U.K.), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; P. Johnstone (Aust.) beat J. Bates (U.K.), 6-2, 6-2; S. Guy (N.Z.) beat J. Austin (U.S.), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3; W. Masur (Aust.) beat B. Derlin (N.Z.), 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; B. Maze (U.S.) beat M. Lewis (N.Z.), 6-1, 1-6, 6-4.