LAWN TENNIS

Evening Star, Issue 23094, 21 October 1938, Page 4

LAWN TENNIS

[By Recohdek.] Fixtures. October 22 and 24.—Handicap and championship tournament at Wannate. November 6. Handicap mixed doubles tournament for the M’Millan Cup at Logan Park. Inter-club Matches. Perfect weather conditions again favoured the inter-club matches on Saturday afternoon. A start was made in earnest with the A grade competitions in which several of the matches were won by a decisive margin. _ A reminder is given to captains of winning teams that results of matches should bo forwarded to the newspapers oh Sunday afternoon, and that the scores should be written clearly on the form provided by the association. In one or two instances last week-end team captains neglected to furnish reports for publication. In tho men’s A grade, Otago easily defeated North-East Valley although a number of the matches were well contested. Otago was without the services of H. Pollock who is still playing golf, but it is expected that he will be starting tennis again very shortly. Robertson showed excellent form for so early in the season and easily accounted for Jolly whose errors were far too numerous. Boddy. although short of practice, had no trouble in outplaying Valentino, but Kaye was fully extended by Facer .who played a good, steady ganie. Field marked his return to A grade tennis by defeating Miller in the third set. Miller is showing improved form and with more experience will prove himself a hard man to beat in fourth position. Robertson and Boddy were never fully extended in their doubles match) but the second double went to 14-12 in the third set before the Otago pair won out.

Cosy Dell won only one match against Roslyn, Cameron and Falconer gaining n surprise victory over Bryan and Rawlinson. The Cpsy Dell pair showed better combination than their opponents, Falconer playing well at the net. Both Bryan and Rawlinson won their singles very easily, while Sincock placed a good perforpmnee to his credit In defeating Falconer in straight sets. MacDonald did not 1 produce his best form and Wright took full advantage of his opponent’s errors and forced him to three sets which Was quite a good performance for the Cosy Dell man. Balmacewen marked its' entry into A grade tennis by taking two matches from the young St. Clair team. Drew was more accurate than Swallow, and on the day fully earned his victory, while Seddon’s steady and consistent play gave him the decision over Barclay. Lawrence and Yeoman both won their singles fairly easily, while the greater experience of tlie, St. Clair players gave them the two doubles matches.

University accounted for Anderson’s Bay by five matches to one, Duthie being the only Bay player to win a match. Ross took the first set frpm Smith, but once the Varsity man settled down ho played better thrtn his opponent and outlasted him in the final set C. Baird, theex-Southland player, easily defeated Young. A good match was seen between Duthie and > Childs, the former driving and volleying very accurately to gam a victory. , Some very good tennis was seen at times in_ the match between Jackman and Oliver, the former having just a_ little more finish to his play than his opponent. Both doubles were w'on by University. _ Mornington, the other new- team in A grade, managed to win only oiie match against Kaituna, A. Gibson winning his single against K. Stewart in the third set. G. Laidlaw started the season well by defeating Paterson in straight sets. Paterson tried far too many winners and did not wait fern the right ball. Laidlaw was good in every department and had more finish to his play. Sherriff won his singles easily while Ruddiman, playing his first match in A grade, defeated Johnston. In the doubles Laidlaw and Stewart combined well to win tho first double while Sherriff was the outstanding player in the second double. In the ladies’ A grade Otago and St. Clair both had easy victories while the Kaituna-Roslyn match has yet to be completed. In the latter Mrs Rawlinson defeated Miss Jolly while Miss Kerr gained a good victory in defeating Miss D. Rackley. This match was . played at Kaituna and the heat of the day caused Miss Hamer to retire in her match against Miss A. Rackley, Miss Jolly and Miss Kerr placed an excellent performance to their credit in defeating Mrs Rawlinson and Miss Rackley ; Miss Jolly played very accurate tennis, but Miss Kerr lias not yet settled down to her best form.

M'Millan Cup Tournament. Entries for the mixed doubles handicap tournament to be played at Logan Park on Saturday, November 5 will close with the secretary of the association, Mr E. S. Wilson, on Monday, October 31. Each pair is guaranteed three matches, which are to be 30 points up. Balls are being provided free, and the tournament is to be played in three grades—A, 13, and C grades. The A grade section is open to A and intermediate grade players, the B grade to B I. and B 11. grade players, and the C grade to O 1. and C 11. grade players. Ranking Matches. The association has decided to do away with the singles ladder for this season, and to introduce in its place ranking matches for A grade players. Those A grade players who wish to play in the ranking matches are requested to forward thier names to Mr E. S. Wilson before 5 o’clock on Wednesday next. It is hoped to be able to arrange matches for about 20 ladies and 20 men to be played during the week-ends. The players will be formed into groups of about five players, and each player in a group will play each other. At the end of the first series the bottom players in a group will bo placed in a lower

group, while the higher players in the lower group will be moved up. It will be compulsory for each player to play one ranking match each week. Half cost of tho balls is to be borne by each player. It is felt that if this system receives tho full support of A grade players it will be the means of raising the standard of plan in Dunedin. It has been quite evident in the past that most players do not have hard singles matches to improve their play. The ranking matches which were ployed last year considerably improved the play of those taking part. This was very noticeable, especially among the laches. Moana Club. A successful mixed doubles handicap tournament was held at Moana last Saturday afternoon. Many good matches were witnessed, and the winners of the tournament were Miss K. Kirkpatrick and Miss S. Fleet,- who defeated Mr D. Murray and Miss P. Bagby in tho final. Union Notes. Tho Tennis Union commenced its matches last Saturday in good weather. Aotea, in the A, decisively defeated Kensington by 13 sets to 3 ; Several sets were very close, three going to 9-8. The winners owe their success to Ross and Brown and Misses Anderson and Brown, who all won their three sets. Gibson and Misses Steven and Crawford did well for Kensington. Forbury had a comfortable win over TokotorU by 10-6. This match was very close, Forbury being superior _in the singles. Donovan, with three wins, was a big asset to his side. Gillions and Miss Ballantyne also played well for Forbury, as did Lamb, Paterson, and Miss Mason for Tokotoru. Kaikorai defeated St. Leonards easily by 12 sets to 4, the suburban team being weak in the doubles. Its four wins in 1 e singles were of merit, but, as the season progresses, it should improve. Kaikorai appears to be strong in doubles play, and may be hard to account for.

An interesting match was played be-1 tween Fire Brigade and Ravensbourne., The latter team’s court experience was the deciding factor in this game. Allan Jackson won his three games for Ravensbourne, while R. Facer and Misses Bullen and D. Pacer played good tennis. The Brigade held its own in the singles, winning four. The play of Lamb, Hey, Laidlaw, and Miss Maguire was up to standard, while more should be heard of Miss Maguire as tho season advances- 1 In the intermediate grade Aotea and Dundas were very evenly matched, the former being victorious i by 9-7. Hanning for A.otea and Miss J. Carr for Dundas each won three sets. In the B grade Musselburgh beat Tokotoru by 14 sets to 2. The former team won all its singles, only losing two of the doubles. Misses Keen, Tonkinson, Sherwood, and Stuart all won their three sets. Lamb and Miss Ruston played well for Tokotoru. C Grade.—Holy Cross will prove to be a hard team to beat (Forbury being defeated by 10-6), and as the season progresses should develop into a strong side. Rogers, Alexander, Belcher and Miss Winborn all played well. The latter player will improve with more competition. The ladder placings are:— Men’s Singles.—l J. Taylor, 2 H. Facer, 3 R. Callander, 4 S. Gibson, 5 R. Pacer, 6 0. Ross, 7 W. Donovan, 8 Alb. Jackson, 9 D. Copland, 10 J. Luke, 11 B. Dickey. Men’s Doubles.—l Taylor and Callander, 2 Sims and Gibson, 3 R. Pacer and Allan Jackson, 4 J. Craig and Gillums, 5 Brown and Ross, 6 R. and J. M’Vie, 7 Copland and Stevehson, 8 Hey and Nevin, 9 Mason and Hanning, 10 Luke and Dickey Ladies’ Singles.—l Miss Bullen, 2 Mrs Hoare, 3 Miss Ballantyne ; 4 Mias Sparrow, 5 Miss Brown, 6 Mjss Ross, 7 Miss Wilson, 8 Miss Pacer. Ladies’ Doubles.—l Misses J. and A. Carr, 2 -Misses Bullen and Jarvis, 3 Mrs Robertson and Mrs Hoare, 4 Misses Sparrow and Brown, 5 Misses Ballantyne and Ross, 6 Mrs Craig and Miss Stevens, 7 Misses D. Facer and A. Connor, 8 Misses Stewart and A. Connor (Concord), 9 Misses M’Kinlay and Hughes, 10 Misses L. and J. Colquhoun, 11 Mrs Pearce and Miss Divers.

All challenges will commence immediately.