LAN TENNIS

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 63

LAN TENNIS

TENNIS TOURNAMENT.

The Otago Lawn Tennis Association's annual -Easter tournament was continued, and all" but" concluded, on. SatnrSay afternoon. Miss Campbell won -the Ladies" Singles championship for th& ninth year in succession, and won eujright her third championship cup. E. S. *U3<l S. JT. Brown again won .the Mien's Doubles Championship, and J. Sinclair won the Men's Handicap Singles. The Combined - Handicap was also advanced several stages. ,In ;the Championship Doubles the Urown brothers (l£aituna) met Harraway and Sinds*i* (Otago). The first set, in which the only conspicuous feature was E. S. BrownJs graceful smashing, was won by the Kaituna pair, 6 1. In the second set the Otago pair ■wakened up and made matters a little more interesting, Harraway getting in some fine low hack-hand allots, aud Sinclair finding the side line with good eSect. The effort of the Otago pair was, however, made too late, and the Kaituna players came home winners, 6—l,6 — 1, e-4.

The score in the final of the Ladies' Championship Singles — Miss Campbell 9, Miss Davies o—shows0 — shows that Miss Campbell had tliing3 pretty well all her own way. Miss Davies has a wonderful faculty for returning strokes, and this is where Miss Campbell ljeats all her opponents. She simply plays ■with them until she gets her favourite position, ■when she drives low and hard to the backliand corner, and usually wins. It seems that the only lady to beat iliss Campbell will be the one that can -come up to the net at the Tight inome.nt and smasn across the court. This is the ninth year Miss Campbell has won the Ladies' Championship, and it says ■volumes for her play when it is stated that seldom, if ever, has any lady made the final even interesting for her. _^ The final of the Men's Handicap Singles ■was rather a surprise to those who had been . following P«rrse T s game throughout the tournament. His supporters were .confident, of his ■winning, but he disappointed them. At one etege of -the .game the score stood 6^ — 3 in the Temuka .player's favour, but, strange as it may -seem, .he never scored another game, Sinclair .annexing ffae next six. 3oth players «Lrcre splendidly, each finding tha back line •wiih"marvellous precision. The smashing on either -sr3e -was" of a vfiry mefliocre nature, - fcut .the volleying :at times -was ieally quite up ! to ihe highest standard, -and the game then became tboih interesting and exciting. Sin- 1 clair-changed his tactics at 6—3,6 — 3, and crawled j " elowly-to the.net, when he cut the careers of 'most of'-Fearse's hard arives by simpiy drop- s .'-ftngi-'theia ovet^-ihe v**- - Boih. • njayera wei«

' freqiiently applauded for their brilliant i strokes, and the win proved a very popular^ \ one. The Combined semi-final between Corrigan and Miss JefEery (Lawrence) and Sinclair and Miss Maclean (Otago) was not conspicuous by any brilliant tennis, and seldom during the play was there any exciting moments. At one Btage of the game the Lawrence pair seemed like winning but Sinclair and his partner pulled themselves together and -won in good style. Corrigan is inclined to worry his partner, and often made mistakes through being over-anxious. Ir> combined tennis it is a great mistake to keep advising your partner. That should be done before the game starts, and should she make a mistake she is quite as cognisant of it as her partner, and is more likely to make amends for it if left to herself. Mrs Maclean at times hit very wildly, and made frequent mishits m her drives, which turned up rather serviceable lobs. Sinciair was somewhat lacadaisieal, and often, for want of a little animation, put the ball into the net when it should have been a certain score. Tbe game between Harraway and Miss Campbell and E. Brown and Miss Fletcher was expected to produce some good tennis, but disappointment awaited the spectators. Miss Campbell is a tower of strength in conibineds, and her partner cannot fail to have implicit confidence in her certainty. She seldom gives the man at the net a chance; consequently the opposing Jady gets most of ' the work to do, and eventually gives a short one, which is killed instantly. It. S. Brown is not quite aggressive enough to make a very successful combined player. Miss Fletchtr, hi» partner, -worked • like a Trojan, and did lser share well. Harraway is at his best in a combined event. With his experience of years, he seems to knew all ths cunning little devices necessary to win. He lays his trap, and sooner or later his opponents fall into it. Sinclair and Miss Maclean fight out the fiDal of this event with Harraway and Mi=s Camplsell on £lie firsi eonvenieni ojsporiiiniiyThe following are Saturday's results: — MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLES. Final. K. S. and S. N. Brown (Kaituna) beat Sinclair and Harraway (Otago;, 6—l,6 — 1, 6—4. LA.DIES' CHAMPIONSHIP SINGLES. Final. ] Miss Campbell (Otago) bsat Miss Davies (Kaituna), 9—o. MEN'S HANDICAP SINGLES. Final. Sinclair (owe 15 4-6) beat W. Pearse (owe Id 5-6), 9—6. COMBINED HANDICAP. Semi-finals. Sinclair and Miss Maclean (owe 15) beat Corrigan and Miss Jeffery (owe 2-6 15), 9—6. Harraway and Miss Campbell (owe 80 3-6) beat R. S. Brown and Miss Fletcher (owe 15 4-6), 9—4.