TENNIS

Southland Times, Issue 19099, 17 November 1923, Page 12 (Supplement)

TENNIS

(By

“Re-Strung.”)

THE SEASON’S FIXTURES.

New Zealand Championships, at Christchurch —December 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 1923. Marlborough Championships, at Blenheim —December 25, 26, 27, 1923. North Otago Championships, at Oamaru— December 25, 26, 27, 1923. Southland Championships, at Invercargill —December 25, 26, 27, 1923. Kaikoura Club Open Championships, at Kaikoura—December 27, 28, 29, 1923. Taranaki Championships, at New Plymouth —January 8,9, 10, 11, 1924. West Coast Championships, at Hokitika— January 16, 17, 18, 1924. Wellington Championships, at (not decided) —January 16, 17, 18, 19, 1924. Canterbury Championships at Christchurch —Easter. Otago Championships, at Dunedin—Easter.

TO-DAY’S FIXTURES. A GRADE. Invercargill v. Central, at Invercargill. Bluff v. Southend, at Southend. B GRADE. St. Mary’s v. Invercargill, at St. Mary’s. Waihopai v. Bluff, at Bluff. Southend v. Winton, at Winton. OTAGO LADDER. The following are the players in the |

—Men's Doubles. — Bray and Clark Wilkinson and Fulton Brown brothers Guy and Duthie McDougall and Black. Play in the Wednesday second grade games promises to be very tame. A tiresome lobbing game seems to be greatly favoured, especially among the men. Anyone with a good smash could w’ork havoc in these games. The best men’s pair I have seen so far in this competition is S. Richards and Stoddart (Southland). It seems somewhat of an anomaly that a player on the Provincial Ladder should be allowed to play B grade. The new ? Waihopai Club must be congratulated on winning its first two matches. This club is at present very severely handicapped in that it possesses at present only one court, and that an indifferent one. The club plays three team, and it is difficult for these to get much practice. However, they are all very keen, and when their new courts are completed they should be something to be reckoned with in the tennis world. The Central Club, acting on the expressed wish of a number of players, has decided to run a combined doubles handicap competition. Partners are to be drawn from a list of competitors arranged by the Handicap Committee. The competition will commence on November 17. The position on the men’s ladder in the Central Club is:—

6 S. Webb 12 D. McNaughton Competition has been very keen among the first half-dozen or so, and a number of matches have already been played. Hudson beat O’Connell for top place, 9-3, but O'Connell turned the tables and defeated his opponent by the same number of games, regaining first place. Hirst and Hughes have played two matches and so far the honours are even, each getting a 9-2 victory. Other matches that have been played are: McKay beat Smart 9.0, Hudson beat Mills 9-7, Hughes beat S. Webb 9-4. The position on the ladies’ ladder in the Central Club is as follows:

Mrs Smart challenged Miss Hayward for the first place, but was defeated, 7-2. The positions on the men’s ladder for the Invercargill Club are:—

The positions on the Invercargill Club’s ladies’ ladder are:—

Practically no matches have been played on the provincial ladder so far. There has been some competition for the last place, and Marcussen, after beating Meredith 6-2, 6-3, lost his place to D. McDonald. A week’s fine weather having been experienced, local tennis players should have had plenty of practice, and a considerable improvement in the standard of play may reasonably be expected. The Invercargill Club should find little cause for satisfaction in the state of their courts. Owing to the amount of sand that is on the surface players slide all over the place, and in a number of places the asphalt is very soft Altogether the work is not a credit to the borough asphalters.

Otago ladder:— - - I —Men’s Singles.— 1 Brav 11 Black 2 Clark 12 Fulton 3 Guy 13 Boddy 4 McDougall 14 Lyttelton 5 Wilkinson 15 Jensen 6 Smyth 16 Botting 7 Duthie 17 Gregory, J. L. 8 Tregear 18 Angell 9 Cleghorn 19 Gregory, V. 7 . F. 10 Gale 20 Slater —Ladies’ Singles.— 1 Miss McLaren 6 Miss Sparrow 2 Miss Pattison 7 Miss Bagley 3 Miss Barclay 8 Miss Smith 4 Miss McAdam 9 Miss Anderson 5 Miss Botting 10 Miss Alexander

1 N. 7 A. McKay 2 S. Hudson 8 B. Smart 3 R. Mills 9 J. Robbie 4 B. Hirst 10 L. Norris 5 J. Hughes HE. Pearce

1 Miss Hayward 8 Miss Chilman 2 Mrs Smart 9 Miss F YuIe 3 Miss Hirst 10 Mrs Robbie 4 Mrs O’Connell 11 Miss Washer 5 Miss Pay 12 Miss Jenkins 6 Miss Price 13 Miss Dykes 7 Miss Yule 14 Miss Poole

1 Gilmour 11 A. Deaker 2 C. F. Jones 12 E. Tarlton 3 C. McNatty 13 G. Wallace 4 F. Newton 14 R. Binney 5 W. Brandford 15 G. Millar 6 C. Praia 16 H. Smith 7 F. Hinton 17 N. Weir 8 B. Hewat 18 Hall-Jones 9 10 W. Anderson W. Marcussen 19 R. A. Wilson

1 Mrs C. F. Jones 7 Miss T. Guthrie 2 Mrs Brandford 8 Mrs Durham 3 Mrs Carr 9 Mrs J. Macdonald 4 Mrs Hall-Jones 10 Miss Bell 5 Miss Hackworth 11 Miss McPhail 6 Miss Oughton 12 MrsT.M.Macdonald