LAWN TENNIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21068, 30 December 1931, Page 13

LAWN TENNIS.

AUCKLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS. PLAY IN THE EARLY STAGES. STEDMAN MEETS AUSTRALIANS. BY SIDELINE. Players had little to complain of iu the matter jpf conditions on the first day of the Auckland provincial lawn tennis championships. The men's singles, in every case, went according to what is regarded as established form. Tho four players who arc most favoured to reach tho semi-finals, E. L. Bartleet, N. G. Sturt, M. M. Morrison and J. T. Laurenson, all had comfortable wins, proving that after these four there is a big falling off in point of skill. Charters was the only seeded player who failed to survive and lie went down before tho good volleying of J. Harrison. S. J. Robinson, who has been playing particularly well in club events recently, lived up to his recently-acquired reputation and defeated G. Martin in stra ght sets. The men's doubles were productive of good play, especially iu the match between Oiilson and Milne, and Griffiths and Sturt. The first-named pair played well together and also showed to advantage individually. Ohlson wa; a winner of tho title a few years back, and, wero it not for an unreliable knee, he would still be in tho first flight in Auckland. V. R. Johns and 11. O. Thomson outgenoralled Lamb and Boardman, who seem impressed with the one idea of hitting straight through their opponents. Such tactics, if they can be called by that nan:c. could have only one result. Morrison and Rowlands, who must bo given a good chance of coining through, won two matches with a good deal to spare, the first against Aldred and Gould and the second against Chalmers and Smith, a young and rather promising pair. Ladies' Singles Matches. The only thrills the spectators had out of the first round of ladies' matches was Miss Marion Macfarlane's fine first set effort against Miss Knight, anu Miss Ruth Taylor'r close and well-contested match with Miss Potter. Iho latter match, however, possibly because of its extreme closeness, developed into lather "safety first" tactics. .Miss Betty Griffiths showed herself to be the possessor of well-produced strokes against Mrs. Melody. _ _ In the ladies' doubles the Misses Macfarlane won with a good margin to spare against Mrs. Shroff and Miss Smith, while Misses Knight and Whitelaw were fully extended by Mrs. Robson and Miss Betty Griffiths, who both played well. Of the combined doubles matches Partridge and Miss Marion Macfarlane played well together, arid Lamb and Miss Roberton showed to advantage against E. Turner and Miss Cooke. N. G. Sturt and Miss Marjorio Macfarlane appeared against Porter and Mrs. Wren and won without difficulty. Judging from results, the closing stages of the tournament should be particularly interesting and splendid tennis should be seen from now on. The winners arc well concealed, and, although it is possible.to name the last four• or so the, likely winners are by no means so easily picked. Comments on Australians. In view ot the possibility of the visit of a New South Wales team to Auckland the. following comments by A. C. Stedman are of 'interest. Writing of his experiences in the Melbourne championships he says that except for a little wind the weather conditions were absolutely peifect. "As vou know, I was beaten by Hawkes' in the singles, 6—4, 6—4, 6—4. I found him difficult to play, as he cuts and slices everything. Ho can make his service break either way and I could not tell which way it was going. I am told that one gets accustomed to his methods after having played him several times, but that was not very much use to me. "I played in the doubles with Aubrey Willard and we were beaten in the third round b/ Hawkes and Willard, 6—<3, B—6 4—6, 7—5, so that we gave them quite a good fight. I was also beaten in the third round of the combined doubles by Mr. and Mrs. Crawford, who eventually won. "In tlie inter-State match, Victoria versus New South Wales, Sproule was playing fourth and Donohoe sixth for New South Wales. They both did very well and won all their matches, New South Wales being successful by a fairly large margin. Donohoe has improved considerably since he was in New Zealand, especially in doubles, and he and Ray Dunlop are a great pair. "Hopman beat Crawford in straight sets and played very well, although Crawford was far from being at his best. Hopman makes the net his objective, and, although his ground shots are very sound, he goes to the net for his winners. Good Volleyer. 1 "Dunlop is an out and out volleyer. His ground shots are not so strong, but he goes to the net on anything and everything, and, when ho gets hold of a volley, he'puts the issue beyond doubt. lie was beaten in both his singles in the. inter-State match, but got to the semifinals of the championships, beating Willard after being I—4 down and saving three match points. . "Donohoe had a good win over Glcmcngcr. Victoria, in the third round. Itwent to a five-set match and they played for three hours. lie was beaten the next day, hri'wever, by Crawford in three straight sets, althougn two of them weie long advantage ones. ''Sproule was beaten in the last eight by Hopman in three straight sets, two of them being advantage. He led 5—4 in both and had two set points in one. Crawford beat Hopman in the filial of the singles in four sets, losing the second. In the last two he played absolutely perfect tennis. There is no doubt about it that when he is right on his game he is a great player. "Patterson and Hopman won the doubles, which was a very good effort as they had the difficult side of the draw. They beat Crawford and Sproule and Dunlop and Donohoe and then Turnbull and Quist in the final, all matches being four sets Patterson was somewhat erratic, although he played some great shots at times. Ho has a perfect service, and whenever a point was really needed on his delivery, lie usually got it with an unplayable .service. rurnbull played very well, Hopman defeating hnu in four sets. If a Davis Cup team is sent away it is generally expected he will get in." RUCJ BY INTERNATIONAL. AITKEN'S COMPLETE RECORD. There >s one British Rugby footballer, C G Aitken, the old Oxford Blue and ex-captain of the London Scottish, who lias played either for or against every Rugby-playing country in the world. In I°2'l Aitken captained New Zealand against South Africa in his first international game. Ho also played for the All Blacks against Australia, and then, after obtaining a Blue at Oxford, for Scotland against England, Wales, Ireland and France. The complete international, in fact.