Seeman’s flying visit pays off for Fendalton

Press, 30 January 1984, Page 20

Seeman’s flying visit pays off for Fendalton

A dynamic performance by Phillip Seeman steered S.I.M.U. Fendalton to victory in the senior men's tennis competition for the B.N.Z. Shield at Wilding Park on Saturday. Grabbing a 24-hour leave pass from the national circuit, Seeman flew to Christchurch from Auckland to beat the topranked Canterbury player, Brett Hibbert, in a hard-hitting singles match. Most of the hard hitting in the second set came from Seeman and, for one of the few times in his tennis career, Hibbert failed to salvage a game from this last act of a spectacular match. As a result of the chunky left-hander’s impressive win, Fendalton beat its closest rival, Shirley, by four rubbers to two and so carried off the B.N.Z. Shield, the trophy for the first-round contest. This success also guaranteed Fendalton of a place in the grand final of the competition, in March. Before Saturday, Shirley trailed Fendalton by only four points, but Saturday’s result extended Fendalton’s winning margin to nine. Pavroc Edgeware rattled home in third place, beating Te Kura without the loss of a match, while Elmwood squeezed into fourth place just ahead of the shieldholder, United, which was upset by the bottom team, Woolston, in the final round. Richard Dalman had to win the final singles in straight sets to enable Elmwood to beat Bishopdale on the countback. As an experienced sundowner — he was the last man on the courts the previous week, too — he carried out his mission successfully against a tough, unbending opponent in

Bruce Williams. The final points in the shield contest were: Fendalton 52, Shirley 43, Edgeware 41. Elmwood 37. United 36. Bishopdale 17, Te Kura 15, Woolston 11. When section play starts this Saturday, Fendalton’s rivals in the first group will be Edgeware, United and Te Kura. The second group will comprise Shirley, Elmwood, Bishopdale and Woolston. Fendalton won both the shield and the principal award, the B.N.Z. Trophy, in a clean sweep of the senior competitions two seasons ago. Judging by the manner in which it toppled Shirley on Saturday, the side might well achieve the coveted double again this summer. The doubles matches were anything but reassuring for Fendalton. Hibbert and Bruce Clark renewed a partnership which brought them two Canterbury closed titles in former seasons and beat Seeman and Alan Adair in the No. 1 match. Shirley almost had the second doubles as well, for Peter Hampton and Gary Wilson had third-set chances against Marty Searle and Alistair Chapman. But the Fendalton pair played disciplined tennis under pressure and clinched the decisive tiebreaker by 7-5. The contest remained delicately poised through the first two singles as a confident Searle found gaps in Wilson’s armour, while Hampton surged away from, a strangely lethergic Adair. Then came Seeman’s charge, and after inching away from Hibbert in a strenuously contested tie-breaker at the fend of the first set, the Fendalton No. 1 really ripped into his task in the second. His play was full of fire and fury, and many of his

serves and cross-court drives and volleys on the forehand defied returns from Hibbert, one of the more athletic senior tennis players. Occasionally Hibbert left Seeman standing with a classic clout to the corner but he was unable to string sufficient of these shots together to capture a game from a rampant Seeman. A stubborn Clark took Chapman to three sets in the last match, but the nuggety Fendalton player exhibited too much power in the third set, although he had the disconcerting habit of tossing in a few puffball shots now and then. Unfortunately for Clark, these bonus points did not come frequently enough to divert the course of the match. Poor Te Kura failed to lodge a point against Edgeware, although Brett Skjellerup seized a 4-0 lead in his singles against Michael Mooney before succumbing in a tie-breaker and Shane Adair soldiered on splendidly in both his singles and doubles. But Edgeware was in a determined mood, with Geoff Smith attacking strongly, Simon Jamieson contesting every point avidly, and Terry Mooney displaying the rich benefits of experience. Undoubtedly the closest contest of the day was produced by the Elmwood-Bishopdale match, when Rhett Mason duelled with Vernon Aubrey on a knife edge throughout two nerve-tingling sets. 1 Mason looked more assertive in the first set, but Aubrey, no doubt fired by his upset defeat of Hugh Robinson in the previous round, forced his way frequently on to centre stage in the second. Both sets ended in tie-breakers, with Mason taking the honours, 7-5, on each occasion. The wins by Mason and Dalman at the top of the order were vital for Elmwood, for Neil Blackburn and Grant James battled their way into the ascendancy in the other matches. Williams tried desperately hard to take at least a set from Dalman in the final singles, but the Elmwood man cut down his error rate and won in two.

Woolston more than doubled its points score for the first round by heading off United on a countback of sets. The highlight was provided by Barry Taylor, who thumbed his nose at a depressing winloss record this season as he downed Ralph Webster in straight sets. Martin Milligan and Gary Lawson were successful skirmishers for United, but Woolston showed that it was far removed from the no-hoper class when John Adair trimmed John Honeywell’s sails in the singles and Taylor and Colin Hunt breezed away from Webster and Lawson in the doubles. Results were: Fendalton 4, Shirley 2 P. Seeman beat B. Hibbert, 7-6, 6-0; A. Adair lost to P. D. Hampton, 3-6, 1-6; A. K. Chapman beat B. K. Clark, 6-1, 4-6, 6- M. J. Searle beat G. Wilson, 6-2, 6-1. Seeman and Adair lost to Hibbert and Clark, 6-4, 4-6, 4-6; Searle and Chapman beat Hampton and Wilson, 6-2, 3-6, 7Edgeware 6, Te Kura 0 M. Mooney beat B. Skjellerup, 7-6, 6-3; G. Smith beat S. Adair, 6-1, 7-6; T. J. Mooney beat G. Main, 6-2, 6-2; S. Jamieson beat I. Watson, 6-2, 6-4. T. and M. Mooney beat Skjellerup and Watson, 6-4, 6-4; Smith and Jamieson beat Main and Adair, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Elmwood 7 sets, Bishopdale 6 R. Mason beat V. Aubrey, 76, 7-6; R. Dalman beat B. H. Williams, 6-3, 6-2; D. Mitchell lost to N. R. Blackburn, 4-6, 57; D. Lawn lost to G. James, 46, 4-6. Mason and Dalman beat Williams and Aubrey, 6-3, 6-4; Lawn and Mitchell lost to James and Blackburn, 0-6, 6-3, 5-7. Woolston 7 sets, United 6 B. Taylor beat R. D. Webster, 6-2, 6-4; C. A. Hunt lost to G. Lawson, 3-6, 5-7; J. Adair beat J. Honeywell, 6-4, 63; M. Wilson lost to M. Milligan, 6-0, 4-6, 3-6. Taylor and Hunt beat Webster and Lawson, 6-4, 6-0; Adair and Wilson lost to Honeywell and Milligan, 4-6, 26.