TENNIS

Southland Times, Issue 19123, 15 December 1923, Page 12 (Supplement)

TENNIS

(By "Re-Strung.”J THE SEASON’S FIXTURES. New Zealand Championships, at Christchurch —December 20, 27, 28, 29, 31, 1923. Marlborough Championships, at Blefiheim— 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, a tDunedin—Easter. TO-DAY’S FIXTURES. —B Grade.— St. Mary’s v. Southend, at Southend. Invercargill v. Bluff, at Bluff. Winton v. Waihopai, at Winton. The entries for the coming Christmas Tournament, to be held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, December 25, 26, and 27, are larger than in any previous year, and given good weather the event should be a great success. Entries closed on Wednesday, December 12. The handicapping will be done this week-end. Considerable interest attaches to to-day’s B Grade match between Waihopai and Winton, to be played in W’inton. Waihopai are as yet undefeated, but Winton should prove a very formidable proposition on their own courts. They were beaten a fortnight ago by Invercargill, but on that occasion their team was somewhat depleted. The Waihopai team will be:—Men: P. Webb, L. Webb, P. Rice, O. Rice. Ladies: Miss I. Edgington, Miss I. B. Brown, Miss B. Whyte, Mrs Pratt. A general meeting of the Waihopai Club was held on Thursday night in the Gladstone Hall, when Mr Frank Kingsland was elected club captain and Mr F. R. Officer deputy-captain. The match played at Balclutha last Saturday between Southland and South Otago was a great success, and it is to be hoped that the fixture will be made an annual one. Southland won by 14 matches to 7, 3 being unplayed. The superiority of the Southland team was not as great as the scores would indicate. As far as the ladies were concerned, I should say South Otago were stronger. Lindsay, who captained the Southland team, was in great form, and as usual his smashing from all parts of the court was deadly. His reverse service also gave his opponents a considerable amount of trouble. His one fatal weakness is still an inclination to run up to the net after a weak shot, and as a consequence he was repeatedly passed by clean shots down the side lines. He also does far too much running about, and if his singles had been a three-set match it is doubtful whether he would have come through victorious as he did.

McAuley, South Otago’s first man, is a fine stamp of player, and shows great promise. He comes from Kaitangata, and is a fine all-round athlete, known thiefly for his prowess in soccer. He was crack goalkeeper for the New Zealand team which made such a successful tour of Australia last season. His height and reach and fine physical condition stand him in good stead in tennis. His volleying and smashing are brilliant, and he has a nice sideline shot which left Lindsay standing on several occasions. What he lacks chiefly is match experience, and this is hard to get in a place like Kaitangata. He goes to Dunedin for the Otago Tournament every year, and was down here at the Christmas Tournament two years ago. On several occasions he has given Black (Dunedin) a very close go. * Miss Hart, South Otago’s first lady, is one of the leading ladies in the Dominion, and has a great tennis career before her. Last year she won the girls’ championship of the Dominion, evoking high praise from all quarters. She is at present living in Milton. Although a trifle off form on Saturday she played magnificent tennis, smashing and driving in a manner which is rarely found in ladies. All her shots are exceptionally clean, and she rarely goes in for cutting. Her main weakness is on her backhand. In her singles she beat Miss Hayward 9-4. Hinton was in a very erratic mood on Saturday, and in patches quite brilliant. In both singles ahd doubles he started off in great style, smashing and volleying in a deadly manner, but in both he went off badly, and suffered substantial defeats. After losing four games running in his match with Lockhart, Hewat settled down to play pat-ball. His opponent followed suit, and a very dreary exhibition resulted, Hewat eventually winning 9-7. Walker (Winton), who partnered Lindsay in the doubles, played a safe, steady game, and was deadly at the net. He is too inclined to poke, however, and to cramp his style. Deaker, who has been improving considerably of late, was matched on Saturday against a player who adopted his own tactics of hard, good length driving. An interesting struggle resulted, the players winning game and game about. Deaker won in the end, 9-8. The President of the South Otago Tennis Association informed me that there was every probability of a return match this season, possibly somewhere about New Year. He said the South Otago players were very keen, and now that the expresses are running every day the train arrangements should not be so inconvenient. In a provincial ladder match Miss Bain beat Miss Metzger 9-3. Mrs Cowie was to have played Miss Watson during the week, but the game did not eventuate. One of the most exciting games at Balclutha was the doubles between Hudson and Hewat, and Barnett and Deal. Hudson was rather off form in the first set, and served quite a number of doubles. The Southland pair also made the mistake of playing a lobbing game, at which they were easily worsted. The first set went to the opposition 5-6. The second set was very close, the South Otago pair being at one juncture within a point of winning the match. There was also some discussion as to whether they should not have been awarded this point. The Southland pair won this set 6-5, and the next set fairly easily, 6-1. u Great enthusiasm is being manifested over the Invercargill Club’s tournament, and the second round is now well advanced. It is hoped to finish up by Wednesday, 19th. McKay, one of Central’s acquisitions, is a young player of considerable promise. In a club ladder match the other day he beat Hughes 9-5. Sims, the well-known ’Varsity player, will play with Griffiths in the coming New

. Zealand championships. He has been concentrating on stroke practice lately, and I .shows great form in singles. The final arrangements in connection with the visit to Dunedin of the New South Wales team were completed on Friday, says “Smash” in the Otago Daily Times. The match will take place on the Moana Courts on Saturday, January 5, I and as this date follows closely on the | heels of the New Zealand championship I meeting and other holiday tournaments, ! the various players engaged should be at ! the top of their form, and should, conse- ; quently, provide some attractive tennis. I The committee of the association gave some ; consideration to a suggestion that the game should be played at Carisbrook, but j it was found that this plan would prove | too costly to warrant its adoption, and it j was therefore abandoned. Even when one makes allowances for the fact that there : will be a good attendance at Moana, it is > doubtful if the visit to Dunedin will show i a balance on the right side of the ledger. ■ The present intention of the local association is to arrange as many matches as possible against the visitors, with a view to giving the local players an opportunity to benefit thoroughly by the experience which they will thus gain. The following Otago players have been selected to practice in view of the match:—-Bray, Smyth, Clark, Guy, McDougall. Wilkinson. Emergencies —Duthie, Black, Fulton.

By his fifth consecutive win in the championship singles of Victoria, G. L. Patterson has equalled the record of Norman Brookes, who won the event in 1902, 1903, 1904" 1906, and 1911. Patterson zwon the original championship shield outright in 1921, and will have his name engraved a second time on the hundred-guinea cup presented to the association by Mr F. W. Heath, which is kept as the chief ornament of the club house at Kooyong. Patterson’s third success with J. B. Hawke’s in the doubles championship entitles him and his partner to craim as their absolute property the shield presented by Mr Justice Weigall, which had to be won three times. The inter-state match New South Wales v. Victoria last month brought into the limelight some young players who seem destined to make good in the future. In the men’s events some of the results are very interesting. Patterson and Hawkes beat Willard Brothers, 6-2, 11-9; Wood and Mclnnes beat Willard brothers, 5-7, 7-5, 6-0; Willard brothers beat Wertheim -and Fitchett, 6-4, 6-4; Wood and Mclnnes beat Kalms and Cummings, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1. In the singles Hawkes beat Cummings, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2; Mclnnes beat A. Willard, 7-5, 6-3; Wood beat Kalms, 6-2, 7-5; Patterson beat Kalms, 6-2, 6-2; A. Willard beat Wertheim, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2; Plomley beat Mclnnes, 6-4, 8-6. The final result was: Victoria, 17 rubbers; New South Wales, 4 rubbers. The Victorian team included five Davis Cup players (Patterson, O’Hara Wood, Hawkes, Mclnnes, and Wertheim). Probably the greatest surprise was the veteran Dr Plomley’s victory over Mclnnes. The youthful Willards and Kalms also shaped impressively. The Sydney team now in the Dominion does not include any of those who played against Victoria. The popularity of night tennis, and the fact that present lighting arrangements permit of the game being played under almost ideal conditions, will probably result in the partial retention of the hard court section at Rushcutters Bay ground (recently wrote M. H. Marsh, the well-known Sydney critic). Two factors contribute very greatly to the success of night tennis—there is no blazing summer sun, and everybody is free in the evenings.

MATAURA v. WYNDHAM. The Mataura and Wyndham A grade teams met on the Mataura Courts on Wednesday, in perfect playing conditions. The game resulted in a win for the visitors by 12 sets to four sets and the individual scores are as follows (Mataura players being mentioned first):— Gents Singles:—Thorn 5 v. Macpherson 9, Lawless 3 v. Henderson 9, Hutton 8 v. Malcolm 9, McDonald 9 v. Barnett 2. Ladies’ Singles. -Miss Winning 6 v. Miss. Alexander 7, Miss Thorn 7 v. Miss Alexander 7, Miss Cockerell 3 v. Miss Bogue 7, Miss Adam 0 v. Miss Coleman 7. Ladies’ Doubles:—Misses Winning and Thorn 7 v. Miss Alexander 7, Miss Cockerell 3 v. Miss Bogue 7, Miss Adam 0 v. Miss Coleman 7. Thorn 4 v. Misses Macpherson and Henderson 7, Misses Cockerell and Adam v. Misses Bogue and Coleman 7. Gent’s Doubles: —Thorn and Lawless 2 v. Macpherson and Henderson 9, -Hutton and McDonald 5 v. Malcolm and Barnett 9. Combined Doubles:—Thorn and Miss Winning 7 v. Macpherson and Miss Alexander 6, Lawless and Thorn 2 v. Henderson and Miss Bogue 7, Hutton and Miss Cockerell 3 v. Malcolm and Miss Coleman 7, McDonald and Miss Adam 7 v. Barnett and Miss Coleman 1. Totals, Wyndham 12 sets, Mataura 4 sets.