Bruce Derlin scrapes into semi-finals

Press, 18 December 1986, Page 56

Bruce Derlin scrapes into semi-finals

PA Wellington The long and the short of it was that Bruce Deriin beat Troy Turnbull in the best match at the BP New Zealand tennis championships at Central Park yesterday. Turnbull at 1.93 m (6ft 4in) was the long of it. Derlin, a chunky 1.70 m (sft 9in), was the short of it. Yesterday, at least, it was better to be short. The left-handed Derlin, the second seed, reached the quarter-finals by edging past Turnbull, 6-4, 7-6. Besides the height difference this was very much a match of contrasts. Turnbull, aged 22, blasted his serves and the rest of the time concentrated on charging the net, while Derlin, aged 24, stood back and relied on his deception and accurate passing shots to get him through. Often Derlin’s serve was little more than a pat over the net, but he is extremely difficult to read and puts a lot of top spin on his shots. Thus Turnbull misread too often, making • too many volleying mistakes to maintain the advantage of his net assault. Even so he pressed all the way and could certainly have won the second set. After losing the first set on the only service break, he forged ahead, 4-1, in the second and reached set point when Derlin was serving at 4-5, 15-40. Derlin hung on to win the ensuing tie-breaker, 7-4. Turnbull, who this year completed a four-year political science degree at Chapman College in Los Angeles, played immeasurably better than he did at last season’s

nationals. Since going on to the professional circuit fulltime in May he has played four satellite tournaments, which have obviously toughened his game. "I am going to have a real crack at tennis,” he said, “but it is not easy to break through. “Since I started playing the satellites I’ve beaten a few good players but that hardly counts because there are so many good ones out there.” Turnbull will play in the Benson and Hedges Open before returning to the United States. The other interesting men’s match yesterday was the James DunphySean Wade clash which Dunphy won, not without some problems, 7-6, 6-2. Once he won the tiebreaker, 7-1, Dunphy steamrolled his way to victory. With his incisive volleying and good court coverage he bears down on an opponent well. Wade, however, showed the benefits of his time in the United States. His groundstrokes, particularly his backhand; were solid and he scrambled superbly. In other matches the defending champion, Kelly Evernden, breezed past Wellington’s Dave Anderson, 6-2, 6-1, while the left-hander, David Mustard, overwhelmed a fellow Aucklander, Malcolm Eloy, 6-1, 6-0. Two important matches will be played today. At the bottom of the draw Derlin faces the highly promising Brett Steven while Mustard and Dunphy renew an the-net acquaintance in a match which could gd either way. "