WILDING SHIELD

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 144, 14 March 1931, Page 9

WILDING SHIELD

Lawn Tennis Trophy AUCKLAND’S LEAD In perfect weather, on excellent, if heavy, courts, and before a good attendance of spectators, Auckland' secured a lead of four rubbers to two over Wellington yesterday in a challenge for the Anthony Wilding Memorial Shield, the principal event in provincial tennis. Auckland had its strongest team in the field, and Wellington was without the services of N. R. C. Wilson. The matches will be concluded on the association courts at Miramar to-duy, when Wellington will have to win five of the six remaining rubbers to retain the shield. Following are the detailed results, Wellington players being mentioned first:— Singles, D. G. France beat E. L. Bartleet, fl—o, 3-6, G—3. Ai L. France lost to A. Stedman 7—5, 3—6, 4—6. R. McL. Ferkins lost to M, Morrison, 3 —fl, 5—7. N. R. Smith lost to N. G. Sturt, 3-6, Doubles. D, G. and A. L. France beat Bartleet and Morrison, 4—6, 7—5, B—4. Ferkins and Smith lost to Stedman and Stuart, I—6, I—6. Play in Singles. E. L. Bartleet started badly against D. G. France, and the latter brilliantly. Finding no difficulty with Bartleet’s very fast service, France attacked from the outset, his deep drives to the corners forcing Bartleet to net. His volleys too were placed yards out of Bartleet’s reach. France was making no errors. In the second set France lost his accuracy. Bartleet played pinch better, and came, to the net at every opportunity, and with angled placements or smashes had France moving fast. France found himself again in tlfce third set, and do what he could Bartleet could not counter the Wellington player’s brilliance. Passing drives by Bartleet which might have beaten almost any one else, France jumped across to and smote hard to the opposite corner. He attacked Bartleet’s service following deep drives to the net, and forcing Bartleet to defend. The depth and speed of France’s drives often forced Bartleet to hit wide out over the side-line or into the bottom of the net. Bartleet found France an impassible barrier at the net. His own double faults also did not assist him. A. L. France made a great fight against A. Stedman, the New Zealand champion. Stedman, to begin with, could make nothing of France’s cut service, deep and severely cut drives, and his drop shots. Nearly always did Stedman net them, mainly with his .forehand drive. Not until he resolved to follow in and volley did he make headway. These tactics compelled France to. pay more attention to returning the ball with depth and less spin, or to lob. Stedman would bend his knees, open his shoulders, and drive straight down ■ either side-line or cross court, or smash with all his weight into the stroke. France would be placed more and more on the defensive, until it usually ended in his not being able to reach to the ball at all. Stedman was altogether too powerful, and too accurate. France failed also on his drop shots as the game progressed. The game between Ferkins and Morrison was fought from the backline in the first set, while in the second both made profitable excursions to the net behind their services or deep drives. Morrison won many points by a finely concealed drive cross-court to Ferkins's forehand, seeing Ferkins many times with it. He often passed Ferkins at the net by deep and not very fast drives down the lines. His reverse service, too, to the corners, puzzled Ferkins, who made many remarkable recoveries during rallies, as he moved fast from corner to corner. Each recovery, however, served but to make his position more desperate. Both paid great attention to tlie other’s backhand, but' there was no noticeable weakness found there. Morrison’s anticipation and volleying were of a better class than Ferkins’s, who missed several good chances of winning the second set. once having a lead of 5—3. ' Smith was no match for Sturt, whose long, raking drives, particularly to the backhand, afforded him a great opportunity to go to the net. where he volleyed or smashed .for winners. Sturt is particularly good at low volleys, and with these he outplayed Smith from the het. who. however, engaged in several pretty rallies, Sturt’s fast service down the middle line, too. was difficult for Smith to handle. The Aucklander also had times when his drives bored out'wide over the sidelines, or hit the top.ef the net and rolled back. He was very uneven in his smashing. 'The Doubles. Neither of the two doubles matches was very high class. The Smith-Ferkius combination was very weak against Sturt and Stedman, who. planting themselves at the net. volleyed and smashed their way to an easy victory, aided by strong services, and speedy drives, and judicious lobbing. The Wellington pair were either strictly on the defensive, or driving futilely at the Aucklanders. The match between Bartleet-Morrison against D.G./and A. L. France produced much better tennis. Bartleet served brilliantly all through. It is no disparagement to Morrison to sny he was the weakest of the four, Bartleet was outstanding. although he fell into bad errors at critical times. A. L. France held too far back froni the net for his volleying or smashing to be decisive. As it was left to D. G. France to make most of the kills, so he also fell into bad errors into the bottom of the net or well over the backline. The Wellington pair won because they were a more evenly balanced team. , I INVITATION ACCEPTED Dominion Special Service. Masterton, March 13. The Wairarapa Lawn Tennis Association has accepted the Wellington Association's invitation to send a team to Wellington to engage in a representative match on March 21 or 28, but the data of the match cannot be settled until arrangements have been made for the forthcoming visit to Wellington.