LAWN TENNIS.

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 154, 17 March 1923, Page 16

LAWN TENNIS.

(By

“Fore-Hand.”)

COMING EVENTS. Open Handicap and Championship Tournament, St. John s ’courts, Wanganui—At Easter. Canterbury Provincial Tournament, at Christchurch—At Easter. Otago Provincial Tournament, at Dunedin —At Easter. Waikato Provincial Tournament, at Hamilton —At Easter. New Zealand v. Metropolitan team, Sydney—March 17. N'ew Zealand v. the.. West. Dubbo— March 27- „ v w i New Zealand v. New South V ales, Sydney —March 31, April 2. MASTERTON V. KELBURN The matches between Masterton and Kelburn were originally arranged by q Tt Gawith, of Masterton, and _W. J. Melody of Wellington, in 1920. The first match was played at Masterton and resulted in a victory for theicountirv players. A return match at Keburn in February, 1921 was won by Kelburn. -Halch;s in Dece.mbo .921 at Masterton, and February, 1922. at Kelburn, were both won by Kelburn. The matches in November, 1922, at Mastertoll were abandoned through rain but in the completed games the advantage rested with Masterton. In December, 1922, Kelburn were again the victors. In February of this year a team from Kelburn journeyed to Masterton, but the matches had o b* abandoned for the second time during the series through heavy rain. The team went up again last Saturday and the matches resulted in favour of Masterton by 14 games to 10. Kelburn were without tho services of Mitchell and Kean, but nevertfiless sent up a good team to do battle against their strong opponents, from whose ranks E. Wellwood was a notable absentee. The game between Berry and Gawith was a willing go, both players striving their hardest. There was some excellent low volleying and serving, but Berry’s good length balls frequently caused his opponent to get out of position, when loose returns were severely dealt with. In the second set Gawith had a lead of 3 love, but -was unable to maintain his advantage. , The. last time Melody and Welch met, the match was abandoned through rain with the score 6 all. Tins time, too, they proved to be evenly matched. Welch, serving and volleying well established a 4 —l lead: and becoming venturesome rushed the net on all occasions only to be repeatedly passed on the backhand. The nlayers were level at 5 all, whence Welch ran out the winner at 7 —5. The second and third sets were very strenuously contested, resulting in long rallies and many deuce games, Melody winning 6 —3. 6—3. Welch, with broken strings in his racket, was compelled to finish with a borrowed one. The match between D. Earle ana Millin’ was regarded with great interand the win of one of the youngest of the. members of the Kelburn Club in a decisive manner. 6 —3. 6—3, was well deserved and due altogether to his merits as a player. On the' previous occasion the same two met, Earle won The match between C. Earle and James provided one of the surprises, tho former player, who is one of tho toughest propositions on the Kelburn court, filing defeated 6—2. 6—4. James, who played a vigorous, heady game, never lot down from start to finish, some of his angled volleys and passing shots being quite unplayablg. Tito last occasion on which the two mot Earle won. t Irons in his match with Tomlinson had his opponent on the run during the first set by severe serving and deep volleying. The second set was won bv Tomlinson, bv consistent driving to both corners, but he faded away in the thirdj.sot, wh’ch Irons took with the loss of one game. . Weston i who nteved consisted ]y well, had Hall frequently in trouble with his left banded. sliced drive, and ran, out a winner 6 —3, 6 —3. Mansfield, a promoted junior, more than iustified his selection by defeating tho left-handed Herbert, 6—l, 6 Reid, the consistent, was too steady for McNair, who revels in a hard driving game, and who found his opponent’s deep lobs troublesome to despatch consistently with speed and accuracy. In the second series several old scores were settled. Melody evened up matters with Gawith in a long; and trying throe-set match, in which condition told ; Welch defeated Berry after losing the first set 5 —7. 6 —2, 6 —4 ; whilst Bee got his own back from Irons, whom ho defeated 6—3, 6—3. D. Earle, by defeating James, 5 — 7, 1 (j_2, 6 —4, avenged his father’s doteat ’ and incidentally gave a glimpse of what he might do with the racket if he indulged in more practice. The other singles were keenly contested, although the country players carried too ma.’iv guns for their opponents. The doubles were not productive of tho same high standard of plav as were the singles. The Earle and Earle y. Gawith and Wplch match was quite a good one, with long, rallies, combined with excellent placing and smashing. The Wellington nair teamed well, Earle senior’s head play making many openings which were promptly taken advantage of by D. Earle at the net. Gawith plaved a superb allround game, and with .a little mote support' from his partner in the critical stages of the tilted sot, when Masterton led 5—3, might have won. Gawith was easily the best doubles pipyer on the ground. Bee was steadiness personified paired with James against Irons and Berrv. Janies and Irons were good in .notches, whilst Berry, who missed very little, was unable to gain position with Boa’s returns, with the result that his consistency was frequently fruitless. Melodv and Best went _ down to Groves and Miller after winning the first set 6—3. Best plaved steadily and lobhid- really well, whilst Melody and Miller were very disappointing. Groves was easily the best of the four, ' and played a severe all-round game. Half and Reid comfortably beat Weston and McNair, who did not team too well.

Andrews and Mansfield put up a good fight against Tomlinson and Herbert, who are quite a good doubles combination.

The Kelburn players all speak in glowing terms of the hospitality extended to them and are looking forward to a return match at Kelburn at an enrl.v date.

In singles it is always advisable to serve from near the rnidde line. You arc the more able to cope with the ' return on either side of you. But in doubles the serving from the corners down the centre line very often ■■>. ■ I—• dm players at the net to deal v u ’ii" •■oturn. But these are matters U ..aotics that can only be adopted yheii experience proves them to be profitable in each individual cm®.

BROUGHAM HILL CLUB The Brougham Hill Club championships. which have been in process of decision for some time past, are now fast approaching finality. Indeed, some of the finals have already been decided. In the ladies’ singles Miss Mav Tracv defeated Miss Arita Howe. 10 —8. after a sensational match, in which neither lady was seen at her best. At one stage of the match Miss Howe led 8 games to 3, and in five games won by 8 points. Miss Tracy, had she not altered her tactics and. got back, to the buck line, instead of making rash sorties to the net, must have lost the match. She won by playing to Miss Howe’s backhand and deep, and depending of Miss Howe’s mistakes and numerous double faults Mrs. Goldie and Miss Tracy proved too strong for Miss A. Howe and Miss Williams in tho final of the ladies' doubles, winning by 9 games to 6. The outstanding feature was the excellent net play of both Mrs. Goldie and Miss Tracy, who were not slow to take advantage of the many openings Which the mistakes of their opponents afforded them. In the final of the men’s doubles Messrs. H. V. Howe anj C. F. Williams lost to Messrs. Goldie and Wilson in three sets. The. winner's proved themselves to be far superior to tho losers, who were weak in combination. The final of the men’s singles have still to be played, and also the final of the combined doubles. The following are leading for the Laws Trophy:—Mrs. Hooper, Miss Treadwell. R. N. Bundle, Miss Wiki, Miss Williams. Miss Jennings S. Roberts. H. T. Dudson, P. Wilhapis, C. F. Williams. n Tn tho inter-club matches the Brougham .Hill Club has won the men’s seniors. ladies’ seniors, and ladies’ juniors

.VICTORIA COLLEGE CLUB This week-end a match has been arranged between the team to represent Victoria College at the interTJniversitv tournament—Burns, Ellis, Rollings, and Young—and a team from the Kelburn Tennis Club. M. C. Gibb, the other member of the ’Varsity team, is now in Dunedin, where ho is pursuing his studies at Otago University. Gibb has held the first place on the college ladder for tile greater part of the season, and has prove'’ himself a hard man to beat. He puts a lot of energy into his game, and his drives, which have a big top spin, are not easv to take. For the last three I has represented the college, and has always taken a keen interest in the affairs of the club. Owing to Miss Nutting being unable to make the trip to Dunedin at Easter. the third ladies’ double has been cancelled. The ladies’ doubles’ team is now as follows: —(1) Misses Thwaites and Sheppard, (2) Misses .Gardner and Pifroii. Tn' the final of the club champion sh'ps. men’s singles, Hollings beat Young after a hard-fought struggle, the score being 9 —7, 6 —2. In the semi-final of the doubles, Hard.e and Ellis had no difficulty in beating Park and Wiren, 6—3, 6 —l. WELLINGTON LADDERS ! Tho following are the latest positions on the Wellington ladders. It will be noticed that several changes havo taken place recently in the positions on the men’s ladder. After a lonfy interval of inactivity, action reasserted itself, with the result that scarcely a week has i y ,one by without one or more ladder challenge matches being played. “Owing to the unsatisfactory method of controlling tho challenges for the fifteenth place on tho ladders, a new scheme has been inaugurated which, it is hoped, will overcome past difficulties.” AYhat exactly the scheme .is wc have yet to learn. The ladies’ ladder is in a more uncertrjin state than the men s, having been arranged in the first place on the standard of the players at various tournaments, and in some cases is no indication of the several players tennis flibilitias. There are still thiee nlavcrs to lie ch<TSCii for the lowest positions of this ladder. MEN’S. Franco, Brougham Hill. Peacock. Thorndon. Swanston. Thorndon. Parker. Thorndon. Barkman, Wellington. Salmond. Thorndon. White-l'iirsans, Thorndon. . Power. Thorndon. Hollings, Lyall Bay. Berrv. Thorndon. Goldie. Brougham Hill.. Young, Victoria College. Fathers. Newtown. Wright. Wellington. Ward, Brougham Hill. LADIES. Miss Curtis. Potone. Mrs. Melody, 'Wellington. Miss Travers. Thorndon. Miss Tracy, Brougham Hill. Miss Howe. Brougham Hill. Mrs. Peacock. Thorndon. Mrs. Parkinson, Petone. Miss Williams, Brougham Hill. , Miss Walters. Petone. Mrs. Turnbull, Brougham Hill. Miss Shearer. Salamanca. . Mrs. Norris, Rrougham Hill. SECONDARY SCHOOLS TOURNAMENT The secondary schools’ tournament was practically concluded last week, and served co snow that Hie scnoois possessed some very promising plajers, both boys and gir.s, who would do .veil to bo taken m hand by competent coaches. A most gratifying thing wath® keenness with which everyone entered into the spirit of the tournament. One thing was noticeable, and that was that there was a tendency, even a;m>ng the best of the players, to liesnitic to take the initiative. Other things, however, which were observable was the great efforts made by the con testa its to i retrieve almost impossible balls and the fine sporting spirit in which every game rt was jilayed, the scrupulous fairn,**s of all contestants, and their willingness to listen to advice and to do all they cou.d to lesson the labours of the organners. It was a pleasing ny.ht m see He efficient manner in which the young people carried' out the responsibilities of umpiring. The game between Miss Nicholls n ’tl Miss East for the final of the junior girls’ championship, and won by the former by 30 points to 24, was an interesting and keenly-fought one. Miss Nicholls knew just a little more about the game than did Miss East, and made better use of the court. The game was fought mainly from the back of the court, and neither girl seemed quite at home in coming to the net. or being drawn there, io volley. Miss hast s endeavour to stave off defeat with the score at 29—24 in Miss Nicholas favour was n most determined one. The way in which she scaled along the back line from side line to side line as Mtes Nicholls placed the ball with deadly accuracy was a revelation.