LAWN TENNIS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22136, 14 December 1933, Page 4

LAWN TENNIS

By Smash.

The following is a list of the principal tournaments approved by the Management Committee of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association: — New Zealand Championships, Christchurch.—December SO onwards. North Otago.—December 23, 25, 26, Auckland. —December 23 to 29. Southland. —December 25, 26, 27. South Canterbury.—December 26, 27, 28. Nelson.—January 1,2, 3. Wanganui.—January 1 to 4. Waitaki (V Sub-association. —J anuary 18, 19, 20. Auckland. —January 24 to 29. • Canterbury.—Easter dates. Wellington,—Easter dates. Otago.—Easter dates.

A GRADE MATCHES The last round of A Grade matches for the present year was played on Saturday afternoon, and this competition will not be resumed until January 13. Conditions were very warm, and physical conditions was, therefore, an even more important factor than usual. The strong Otago team inflicted one of the most severe defeats on Moana "on Saturday afternoon that the latter club has suffered in the whole of its history. From the beginning of play Otago set out on the right foot and'won each of the four Men’s Singles. Chisholm showed a maintenance of his excellent form this season by defeating Guy 9—7. Guy is wellknown as a very formidable opponent, and he put up an excellent fight throughout, but Chisholm’s ground strokes were working very, effectively and he outdrove the Moana man in a match played mainly from the back of the court. Chisholm drives beautifully on both hands and his cross-court shot, which he plays very accurately, .is one of the most dangerous in Dunedin, but he haa not developed the volleying game to the same extent, and this defect, unless it is overcome, will keep him out of the highest class. Duthie showed improved form against Boddy, and these two players proved to be. very well matched in" a brightly contested Singles which went to the Otago man by the odd game; Chisholm and Boddy best Guy. and Duthie in‘a Doubles match which, owing to the heat, imposed a considerable strain on the players. 'The Moana pair took the second set 6 —5, but Chisholm and Boddy were very severe in the third, in which they .lost only three games. Robertson and Stevens won both their matches, the Doubles against Drew and Highet . being very, keenly contested.. The Moana ladies fared rather better than the men and were responsible for each of the three, wins. scored by their, side." Miss Sherriff defeated Miss Borrie in a close match, and both the Moana pairs—Misses Logap. and, Vallis and Mieses , Sunderland; and Snerrifr—recorded wins: Otago, however, won each of the four Mixed Doubles. Roslyn met, Cosy .Dell and carried so many guns that the latter club managed to collect only one 1 match, this distinction falling to Miss Walker, who played a nice driving game to. defeat Miss Bagley 7 —5. M’Dougall was altogether too steady and accurate for Cameron, who, despite the promising form; .which he has shown of late, took;, only f two games from the ■Roslyn man.,i Black and Chisman both won by a comfortable margin,- but Stand and Mollison were fairly eVenly matched in'a contest which went to the latter 9—7. In the Doubles'Cameron and Shand made an' excellent showing"; against;’Black and M'Dougall, . taking the second" set 6—5 and running their redoubtable opponents to ‘5 all in , the third set before the Roslyn.pair took the odd- game. Miss Douglas; showed'good"’form against Miss Pattison, : and' some nice tennis was seen in . this j.match. Miss- Rackley and Mrs Foxcroft each won by a comfortable margin, and the Roslyn ,ladies also showed a better understanding of the Doubles game than their opponents. Only , three of the Mixed Doubles were pliyed,rand in each case the Roslyn pair, was 1 successful. Though Kaituha’beat OjpohO' by ll sets to 5, many of . the games were very closely contested. Hawksworth maintained - his winning record by defeating Phillipps, but in the other Men’s Singles the Kaituna players were steadier and more experienced than their ‘ opponents. Miss. Edwards again* showed good tennis in defeating Miss.Bolwell, and Miss Hunt won her match by the, odd game. Miss F. Brown; and Miss L.B.rowri' both recorded , easy wins for Opoho..'-Jensen and Sheriff had a good ’win in : the Doubles/"and in the Mixed event Hawksworth and Miss Bolwell combined well to defeat Phillipps and Miss Hunt.

In the remaining fixture of the day Anderson’s Bay and North-East Valley proved to be very evenly matched, victory going to the former club by 9 sets to 7. G. Pearce won each of his three games for . the Bay, and , this performance was equalled for * Valley by Mrs Cheyne. Pearce brothers won their Doubles in straight sets, but were pushed to 6—5 in the second set by M’Carthy and Valentine, both of whom played well. SELECTION OF TEAMS Some criticism has been occasioned by the constitution of the Wilding Shield and Nunneley Casket teams to represent the southern associations in these contests, in Christchurch. No doubt the Selection Committee had reasons for choosing the team as it did, but it cannot be claimed in any sense that the side is a repre : sentative one. It contains only two lead-, ing players, Pearce and Miss Miller, and is not likely : to enhance the reputation of Otago, which already does not rank very high in the north. It should be regarded as. an honour to gain inclusion in these teams, and unless the association can see its way to send the best possible side it would be better not to take part in these matches at all. Moreover, if it i a desired to send young players, there are others who appear to have equal claims to some of those selected on the present occasion. Notwithstanding what lias been said, however, the hope may be expressed that the team will acquit itself with credit, CHALLENGE MATCHES Recent challenge matches have resulted as follows; Guy beat M'Dougall 6 —l, 2—6, 6 —3. Swallow beat Ross 6 —3, B—6. Boddy beat Rawlinson 3 —6, 6—3, 6—l. Pearce and Deaker beat Black and M'Dougall 6—3, 4—6, 6—2. . Boddy and Fulton beat Rawlinson and' Falconer 6 —4, 6—3. Fulton and Boddy beat Black and. M'Dougall 6 —2, 6—4, and moved; up, to second place, NOTES The' association’s official coach, T. Brookes, has recovered from, a rather severe and lengthy illness and has resumed his official duties at Logan Park. , Club secretaries- are reminded that the names of club champions should reach the secretary of the association by December 20. This is for the Cleghornand Walker Cup competitions. > The following teams have been cho.sento represent the southern, associations m the matches for the Wilding Shield , and the Nunneley Casket, which arc to be played against the Canterbury team, in Christchurch on December 26'and 27; — Anthony Wilding Shield—G. A. Pearce, E. A. Pearce, .and J. Rawlinson (Otago.), and F.- Gallagher (North Otago), Kathleen Nunneley Casket—Miss D. Milier (North Otago), Miss R. Barton (Otago), Miss Guest:and Miss Melvin (Southland).

CRAWFORD BEATS PERRY ’ Play in the first test match between England and Australia was watched by a crowd of 10,200 persons, and the gate takings exceeded £2OOO. The • feature of the afternoon was the magnificent recovery which Crawford ‘made against Perry, whom he defeated 2-—6, 6—4, 6 —S. It was a contest between two master players (says the Sydney Morning Herald), a match that will live long in the memory of all who saw it. It had all the elements of drama, a conflict between two men in a .battle/of skill and tactics and finesse that created an atmosphere of the greatest tenseness. The Englishman, though he fell away slightly in the concluding stages, went down full of fight, and when the, match was over he raced from the baseline, leaped the net, and congratulated the victor. It had been a battle of giants—and sportsmen, RANFURLY v. KOKONGA The match between Ranfurly and Kokonga, played at Ranfurly, resulted in a win for the former team by 12 sets''(ll4' games) to 4 sets (76 games). The heat proved very trying W the players. In the first Men’s Singles (Halstead v. Lennon) the former was superior in every department, winning 9 —3. Lennon would be well advised to steady his play and try to control' his hard bitting. Macdonald defeated Creighton 9—5 by good steady play which has improved considerably since . the beginning of 1 the season. Jones notched Kojconga’s only victory inrthe' Singles;; by beating Fipser Wilson, playingi his first A Grade game?fbi*tEajjfurly-£a||ly accounted for Mathewsori, 9—3. were .easy in the Ladies’ Singles, Mrs .Miss' J. Bruce winning for Kokonga, arid Misses J,’ , and; M. Mawhinney for Raufurly. In) the first Men’s Doubles, _ Lennon and Jones played .better.‘tennis to get six gabies from Halstead and Macdonald. Experience told >in the game, Fraser and Wilson (9) v. Mathewson and Creighton (7). The Ladies’Doubles, were both won by Ranfurly. The’first Mixed Doubles pair, Halstead arid Miss J. Mawhinney, both won their - third game by defeating Lennon and Miss Creignton 7v-2. Wilson and Mrs Wilson, substituting for Macdonald and Mrs Rutherford. 'bygood,'-steady i ' r tennis'- - easily-'dEfeat«d Creighton and Mrs Wooding 7—3. Jones and Miss J. Bruce combined* well to defeat Fraser and Mrs Gilchrist 7-—5. In winning their Mixed Doubles match. Wilson and Miss M. Mawhinney, both recently promoted players, finished up undefeated for the day. The competition matches have now concluded for 1933, and will be resumed in the Hew Year.

LAWN TENNIS UNION Winners of all three seta in matches, the details of which have been published or notified to the publicity officer, are as follows;—A Grade—Jones and Mrs Jones (Kaikorai), Pickerill and H. Facer and Misses Facer and O’Gorman (Ravensbourne), Galbraith and - Wallace (Knox Church). B Grade —Findlay, Hoare, and Taylor, and Misses Beveridge and. Orr (Kaikorai). C Grade—Ramage and Whyborn, Fort, Lindsay, and Miss Driver (Kiwi). . Ravensbourne A won its first match on Saturday, when it defeated Kensington A 13 —3. The rsults of the matches played by the latter team show clearly the difference in strength between , the teams entering A Grade and those which have played in that grade for some years. The Kensington players are now gaining exprience which will render- the team , a more difficult proposition ; in the second round, and this applies ifa particular to Lee, who was the only Kensington player to win his Singles, defeating R. Facer 6 —4. Elder (Kensington) has been playing well this season, but should resist a tendency in Doubles games to ignore the presence 'of his partner'. Misses Clark and Galloway (Kensington) registered a good performance to defeat Misses Page and Asher 9 —7. Elder and Miss Clark played well to defeat such a strong pair as Miller and Miss Page.

The value of the presence of Miss Salmond and A. Salmond in the First Church A team on Saturday when playing Knox Church A _ was largely detracted from through their lack of practice. Rae (First Church) has a good style, but requires to put more “devil” into his shots to make them effective. Probably the best game of the day was the Single in which Wallace (Knox) defeated Salmond 6 —3, both players playing particularly good tennis. Knox Church won all four of the Men’s Singles ami three of the Ladies’ Singles. I. M'Kinnon, who. played A Grade for the first time on Saturday, has many nice shots, but would be well advised not to stand in the middle of the court, where a player is so easily passed. Misses Rae and Black (First Church) rather unexpectedly defeated Misses Howell and Rosevear, but on the play they were undoubtedly the better nair. The match between Kaikorai A and Tainui A was looked forward to with interest, as neither team had lost a match in the first round. At one stage the former led by 8 yets to nil, having won nil the Men’s Singles and all the doubles. Tainui .won all the Mixed Doubles and Ladies’ Singles except the set Jones and Mrs Jones against Carr and Miss Broadbent. and the Singles Mrs Jones against Miss Cameron. The final score was Kaikorai 10 sets. Tainui 6. Miss Cameron, playing well, lost to Mrs Jones 6—B, Jones had a narrow win over Carr, who plays a hard game, but Tost_ his accuracy after having several set points in hand. The best Doubles match of the day was the one mentioned above, being a game of

lobs, smashes, and good placements. In this the Tainui players, lost 6 —B after having several set points early in' the game. It appears from the results of the matches played that Mrs Jones and perhaps also Miss Fitchett should hold higher places on the Kaikorai ladder than they now hold. . The best contested set of the match between Kaikorai B and Forbury A, was the first Mixed Doubles, all four players driving and serving well. Sutherland led 40 —15 on his service in the last game, but the Kaikorai pair survived, and after three deucea ran out winners 9 —B. The fourth Men’s Singles was another long set. Taylor after lending s—o5 —0 against Robertson had a hard fight to win 9 —B. Miss Buchler (Kaikorai) after establishing a lead of 5—2 collapsed, and Miss Holley playing steadily took the next .five games and the set. The first Ladies’ Singles was marked by many long rallies with plenty of lobs, Miss Sinclair winning mainly on her service. Miss Ballard'is a very steady player with a good forehand drive.

Kiwi A defeated First Church B by 13 sets to 3 in a match in which almost all the sets were closely contested, the second Men’s Doubles and both of the Ladies’ Doubles, being decided at 6 —5. Master J. Sims, of the Kensington Club, is to be congratulated on his performance in the primary schools’ tournament, which has just been completed. This player played no fewer than 10 sets on the same day and was the runner-up in the Boys’ Singles Championship. Recent men’s ladder challenges have resulted as follows; —R. Facer (Ravensbourne) defeated F. Sims (Kensington) 10—-8, L. Galbraith (Knox Church) defeated M. Elder (Kensington) 10—8. Restring and repair-' Tennis Racquets yourself. Modern easy method. Write for booklet, price 2s 9d, cash with order.—J. Boschetti, Dept. B, 22 Regent street, Christchurch. —Advt.