Chch player tests tall opponent

Press, 15 January 1986, Page 3

Chch player tests tall opponent

PA Wellington The towering twelfth seed, Simon Robinson, was given a torrid test by Brett Hibbert in their first round match of the B.P. New Zealand tennis championships at the Mitchell Park courts in Lower Hutt yesterday. Robinson, nearing the end of his time at the University of Arkansas, did not seem too comfortable on artificial grass and against an opponent who clubs his groundstrokes, particularly his backhand, to telling effect. He was lucky to win. When Hibbert, of Christchurch, led 4-2 in the final set, it seemed an upset was in the offing. Robinson pulled himself together just in time and eventually squeezed home 63, 3-6, 6-4. Jeremy Grubi, of Wellington, who has completed two years at the University of Wichita, showed his ability to hit pacy groundstrokes in outplaying Canterbury’s Michael Mooney 6-4, 6-4.

Stephen Salthouse, the fourteenth seed, had to win a second-set tiebreaker on his way to beating an Auckland junior, Craig Hansford, 1-6, 7-6, 6-3. Results from the first round were.— Men (round 1): R. Barnett (Auck) beat M. Cosier (Auck) by default; S. Salthouse (Auck) beat C. Hansford (Auck) 1-6, 76, 6-3; S. Robinson (Auck) beat B. Hibbert (Cant) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; B. Francis (Wgtn) beat J. Salisbury (P. North) 6-3, 6-2; G. Ryder (Auck) beat P. Grubi (Auck) 5-7, 6-4, 7-5; D. Anderson (Wgtn) beat F. Popp (W. Germany) 5-7, 7-6, 6-0; P. Mangan (U.S.) beat A. Wicherts (KMana) 7-5, 6-3; P. Seeman (Dunedin) beat J. Moores (Auck) 7-5, 6-1; K. Elliott (Waikato) beat J. Bruce (Wgtn) 7-5, 6-1; M. Maiden (Auck) beat A. Cottrell (Nelson) 6-3, 6-3; J. Grubi (Wgtn) beat M. Mooney (Cant) 6-4, 6-4; S. Ferguson (Auck) beat B. Ede (K-Mana) 63, 6-3; G. Wilson (Marl.) beat G. Liddell (Wgtn) 7-6, 5-7, 6-2; G. Hansford (Auck) beat L. Diefenback (Queensland) 6-3, 62; C. England (H. Valley) beat M. Ridge (Auck) 6-2, 6-1; S. Cargo (N. Shore) beat A. Bell (Auck) 6-2, 6-1; I. Macfarlane (Wgtn) beat D. Stadnyk (Canada) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.