LAWN TENNIS

Evening Star, Issue 22880, 11 February 1938, Page 4

LAWN TENNIS

[By Recorder.]

Fixtures. February 26.—Otago v. South Canterbury, at Timaru. March 12.—Otago v. Southland, at Dunedin, March 19.—Otago v. North Otago, at Oamaru. March 19.—Sub-association matches against Vincent, Maniototo, and Tuapeka, at- Dunedin. March 26.—Sub-association match v. South Otago, at Milton. March 26.—Sub-association match v. Eastern Districts, at Dunedin. April 15, 16, 18, and 19.—South Island and Otago championship and handicap tournament, at Logan Park, Dunedin. Interclub Matches. Owing to rain no matches were played last Saturday afternoon. The matches, however, are being played off in the evenings and must be completed before the end of next week. Junior Women’s Team, The junior women’s team to visit Australia will be Miss M, Beverley (Matamata), Miss J. Douthett (Wellington), Miss K. Armstrong (Canterbury), and Miss Hebe Wilson (Balfour, Southland). The players leave New Zealand on Tuesday next from Auckland by the Awatea and will leave Sydney again on March 12. It is pleasing to note that Miss Hebe Wilson has been given a place in this team. She should return a much-improved player. ' Ranking Matches. A series of ranking matches for both men and ladies will be played at Logan Park to-morrow with a view to assisting in the selection of the Otago team. The following players are asked to report at Logan Park'at 1 to-morrow;—Misses Maud Jolly, Bridges, Clayton, Macassey, Spackman, C. Williams, and B. Fraser; Robertson,, Jolly, Smith, Pollock, Boddy, Boyd, and Laidlaw, New Zealand Championships. The New Zealand championships were concluded at Auckland last Tuesday. Unfortunately, rain on three days of the tournament caused this year’s championships to be unduly prolonged, but (nevertheless the standard of tennis was high and the number of new players who showed outstanding form was greater than has been the case for many years. New champions were found in both the men’s and ladies’ singles, and as both are young players, and have all their tennis before them, they should be in the forefront of New Zealand tennis for many years. The seeding of the men’s singles was upset, and only five of the eight seeded players reached the quarter-finals, and only two seeded players were in the semi-finals.

The first surprise of the tournament was Pattinson’s defeat of Edwards. Pattinson is a brilliant left-handed player from Canterbury (formerly of the West Coast), while Edwards is No. 1 ranking player for Wellington. It was a quiet stroking match, but Pattinson showed more variety than Edwards, and was not disturbed when his opponent took a useful lead in the third set. The second upset was the defeat of the titleholder, D. C. Coombe, by Mayson, of Auckland. The latter has been making steady progress during the season, but his defeat of Coombe came as a surprise. Mayson attacked strongly in the first set and followed his drives to the net, where he anticipated well and cut off many of his opponent’s drives. Coombe improved in the second set and put more pace on his returns, forcing Maysofi to drive out frequently on side lines. Coombe gained the lead in the third set, but Mayson was not to be denied, and retrieving well and keeping up the pressure, took the set at 6-3. After the interval the pace was much slower, and care was the chief characteristic. Coombe ltd 3-2, but again made many errors and netted many returns. At 5-4 Mayson served, but was down love-40. Three beautiful side-line placements beat Coombe completely, and then the titleholder outed twice and Mayson took the match. There were two further upsets in the quarter-finals, Pattinson defeating Angas and Mayson defeating Bedford, In the latter match Mayson started in his usual active way and forced the pace by deep driving, followed by judicious net attack. While Bedford rose to great heights on occasions, he could not produce his best form under the pressure exerted by the young Aucklander. Pattinson created a mild sensation by defeating Angas, ranked seven above him on the Canterbury ladder. The hard Auckland courts seem to suit Pattinson’s style, although he did not use pace to heat Angas, but rather accurate placements and change of speed. At the interval Angas led by two sets to one, and appeared to have the match well in hand. However, Pattinson quickly gained a 4-love lead and then dropped two games. The temporary reverse did not upset him. In fact, his court presence throughout was excellent, and he maintained a genial face at all times. Angas made two careless

errors in the eighth game, and did not try for the next two points, losing the game to love and making the sets 2 all. Pattinson took .the final set easily at 6-0.

Stedman won through to the quarter finals fairly easily, as also did A. D. Brown, the present North Island and Auckland title holder. Unfortunately due to an attack of influenza Stedman could not play in the last few days of the tournament, and had to scratch in all events. Pattinson thus reached the final on a win by default over Stedman. The other semi-final was played between Brown and Mayson, and the result was the same as when these two met in the Auckland championship the previous week, Brown winning comfortably. The final between Brown and Pattinson was another straight-set victory for Brown, and has no doubt earned him a place in the New Zealand Davis Cup team. The showing of Mayson and Pattinson in the championship must give the New Zealand selectors food for thought. The fact that neither of these players was nominated for the Davis Cup team should not prevent their being considered by the New Zealand selectors. In the ladies’ singles the only seeded player to be defeated before the quarter finals was Miss T. Poole, of Canterbury; who lost to Mi&s M. Macfarlane, tho ex-

perieuced Auckland player. Miss Macfarlanc was champion in 1928, and in her match against Miss Poole showed a return to her best form. The game was an excellent singles contest, hard driving to the base corners and splendid returns being a feature. Miss Macfarlane kept better length, and her experience helped her to deal with the accurate driving of her opponent. The Aucklander won the first set after Miss Poole had a chance for 5 all. The second set was a repetition, but this time the advantage went to the Canterbury player. After the interval Miss Macfarlane played with her former speed and accuracy, and ran out a popular victor. Miss Dora Miller, of Oamaru, who was only seededjNo. 5, won her way to the final of the singles without the loss of a set. In the quarter finals Miss Miller easily defeated Miss Macfarlane, of Auckland. In this match Miss Miller drove strongly on the forehand, and her variation or direction caused her opponent a great deal of running about. Against the accurate play of. the North Otago girl, Miss Macfarlane was not so happy as when opposed to the s]3eed produced by Miss T. Poole the previous day. Miss Miller won through to the final by defeating Miss N. Beverley in straight sets. Miss Margaret Beverley, who won the championship, dropped sets to both Miss P. Cooke and Miss Plumer. In the final, however, she was much too strong for Miss Miller,,and won out in straight sets.