PLAY IN DOUBLES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23251, 21 January 1939, Page 18

PLAY IN DOUBLES

I ONLY ONE CONCLUSION CANTERBURY PAIR'S SUCCESS DEFAULT IN SECOND CONTEST With Auckland's victories in thro*> out of the four singles matches played yesterday the destiny of the Wilding Shield rested-upon the results of the doubles. A win to the Canterbury pair. Angas and Pattinson, over Sturt and Mayson placed tho issue beyond doubt and so there was no necessity for the completion of the second singles. In the latter event Brown had sportingl* I agreed to take his place, in spite of his shoulder injury, but in order to avoid unnecessary risk when the trophv at stake was already won, the match was allowed to go to Auckland by default. The match between Angas and Pattinson and Gunn and Bedford provided some spectacular tennis. The Canterbury pair started convincingly by capturing Gunn's service to lead 4 1. Pattinson was serving down the centre line to Gunn's backhand, causing the Aucklander to run round it and thereby expose the sideline where Canterbury won many points. Pattinson exploited these tactics with marked success throughout the set. In the second set, which went to the Aucklanders with the loss of but a single game, the home pair combined much better and dealt more severely with overhead smashes. Gunn and Bedford led 4—l and then Angas served no fewer than five double faults Peculiarly enough, in his abandon. Angas hit four "screamers." In th<-> next game it was fairly obvious that the Canterbury men threw away points in order to obtain first service in the deciding set. Angas and Pattinson. tightened up their game in the third set and went to 3-love with the loss of but tW-j points. They were combining excellently at this stage. The local players raised tho hopes of their supporters when thev won two games on end. but Bedford lost his service. After leading at 4 —2 the Canterbury men demonstrated their superiority by taking the next two games with the loss of but one point It was really brilliant doubles play. Angas was the best of the four in all round play, but he received splen did support from his partner. Gunn and Bedford were good only in patches their positional play leaving much to bo desired.