ROBSON ACCOUNTED FOR BY PETRA IN A SLASHING GAME

Evening Star, Issue 26139, 28 June 1947, Page 8

ROBSON ACCOUNTED FOR BY PETRA IN A SLASHING GAME

(N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent?) (Rec. noon.) LONDON. June 27. » Y. Petra, who won the Wimbledon championship last year, had tp work hard for an hour and a-quarter and show all his paces before he could dispose of Jeff Robson and pass through to the fourth round to meet the American. T. (Brown. Robson played his best game since he came to England, occasionally hitting with perfect power s and precision. In fact, his driving was frequently so good that the Frenchman, who dearly likes to come to the net to use his great height and power for killing smashes, found that he was being passed so often that he had to exercise the utmost discretion in choosing the right moment to advance from the back line. It was variation in his pace, his control in placing the ball just over the net, together with reliance on his vicious service, plus his greater experience, which gave Petra the game. But lie could not afford to take chances. ißobson proved that conclusively in the third set, when, although the Frenchman had a lead of 4-1, the New Zealander marched off with four games in a row. PETRA FORCED TO WORK HARD. The match was played on court number three, before a packed stand on the one side and a crammed footpath on the other. It soon became apparent that Petra would have to work his passage, and at one stage Robson looked like taking, the first two games straight off. Having won his service, he held the advantage of Petra after a sizzling backhander tucked well'into the corner. Rqbspn took his second service to love, but lost his third after deuce for the Frenchman to break through. Two games later Petra broke through when he puffed the chalk on the back line with a splendid lob, and Robson handed him a double fault on the last point. Petra’s own service was by no means immaculate, and Robson took the* next game with a couple of perfect forehand drives and another scorcher off the backhand. With the games three all the Frenchman broke through. Though Robson once produced the ace in this game Petra found the answer with one of his perfectly controlled, short lobs, after a punching rally. fn the third set Robson brought another ace to bring the games level at 2-2. but in the next two games he won only two points and the Frenchman had a comfortable lead of 4-2. In the next four games, however, he only dropped six points, to collect'them all in a row and to take the set. In the final set Petra immediately went ahead to a three-love lead. When the New Zealander pulled up a couple of games and Petra double-faulted twice, it seemed for the moment that he might be losing his grip on the game.He took two points from deuce, however, and though Robson held his service at 5-3 the match was nearly over. * In the final game the New Zealander made a desperate effort to reach deuce by scampering into a corner and sending up a lob. Petra was at the net and he plopped the ball neatly into the other corner. All Robson could do was to grin and run up to the net to congratulate him. It was a really good game and Robson has nothing to apologise for on ‘his first appearance at Wimbledon. In his three matches in the men’s singles he played 154 games in something like nine hours, proving among other,, things that he has stamina, courage, equable temperament, , and ability to learn. No doubt there will be more Wimbledons for him. [An account of . Robson’s match with Jones appears on Page 9.]