LAWN TENNIS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 9, 8 December 1932, Page 12

LAWN TENNIS.

The play of last Saturday in . the match Palmerston North Club versus the iiest of the Affiliated Clubs was tlie best on both sides since this annual match has been established, notwithstanding that three of those who played for the iiest last year have thrown in their lot with Palmerston North.

A remarkable thing was the consistency of the form shown, All the ten ranked players of the Manawatu Association took part, and in no case was the ranking upset. Coombe the No. 1 in the ranking beat Brown the No. 2; Salmond the No. 3 beat Robertson the No. 4; Boddy the No. 5 lost to Hankin, who did not play last year and so was not ranked; Blakeney bracketed No. C beat Pringle No. 1U; McDonald bracketed No. 6 intended to stand out, but took the place of an absentee and never gave nis opponent a chance; and finally AA’ehipeihana No. 8 beat McLachlan No. 9. The rubber between Coombe and Brown was evenly contested up to ft certain point in each set. Brown has more strokes and greater severity, but Coombe has better control and confirmed last season’s superiority. Salmond, who lias been playing very well this seeson, began very badly against Robertson, but after losing the first set had matters all his own way and only lost two out of the next fourteen games. It would bo interesting to see how he would fare against Brown. He is a slow beginner but a great stayer, and never loses a point for want of trying. Boddy had beaten Hankin very easily the previous Saturday, but he was by no means in his best form and Hankin won easily in the third set. AVehi2>eihana, who always does well in matches, was too strong for McLachlan. good man though the latter is, and promises to be a useful member of the representative team before Jong. Pringle has a great forehand drive but he does not vary his strokes at all, so that an experienced player like Blakeney knew exactly what to expect and had no difficulty in winning. The doubles proved Brown to be a much improved player in this department of the game. He and Robertson-, who was also playing very well, brought off a surprise by beating tlie strong Eeilding pair, Coombe and Boddy, with a good deal to spare. Robertson again did well when he and AA’ehipeihana were only beaten by the narrowest margin by Coombe and Salmond, the Manawatu Association s first pair. Another very good rubber was that in which McLachlan and Heremia, both playing well, beat Blakeney and Dowd after a first set which ran to twenty-four games. Altogether the form v'as very satisfactory and Manawatu should be able to put the strongest team that has as yet represented the association against Hawke’s Bay oil Saturday. It is five years since these associations have met and or that occasion Manawatu won by twenty rubbers to four. But Manawatu is not likely to have such an easy victory this time, if indeed they win at all. Hawke’s Bav will bo led by R. A. Court, the British Junior Champion of 1927, and the holder of the Nortlr North Island and Manawatu Championships, and with such players ■ in the team as Lowry, an old Cambridge bluo and a former North Island doubles champion, as well as Milburn who in the last match played second and won his rubber very easily, it is evident that Manawatu will meet strong opposition. In the last match Lowry and Milburn beat McDonald and Hooper, who were then Manawatu’s first pair, in a strenuous double, the first set or which ran to thirty-two games apparently the leading lady for Hawke’s Bay will be Miss Glenny. whose father G. C. Glenny represented Cambridge against Oxford in .1900. Miss Howell their second player is the only one who played five years ago when she was beaten by Miss (now Doctor) Pauline AA’itherow. But she is a much stronger player now, and at last season’s North Island championship meeting at Palmerston North beat Miss Astle. at that time the holder of the Palmerston North Club s championship, for the third successive vear. 6 —l, 6 —4. ' The match begins at Jl a.m. on Saturdav and if the weather is fine there should be some very interesting play. ,