TENNIS

Southland Times, Issue 21657, 19 March 1932, Page 14

TENNIS

(By

“Chop.”)

B and C Grade matches to-day. Galloway Cup competitions will be played on the Georgetown courts. The B grade draw is: Bluff v. Waihopai 1 at Waihopai; Central v. St. Mary's at Central ; Georgetown v. Southern at Southern; Invercargill v. Southend at Invercargill; Kennington v. Rugby Park at Kennington; Waihopai 2 v. Waikiwi at Waikiwi. The C grade draw is: Southend v. Kennington at Kennington; Makarewa v. Waihopai at Waihopai; Waikiwi v. St. Mary’s at St. Mary’s. The Galloway Cup draw is: Ladies, Miss Guest v. Miss Wade; Miss Melvin v. Miss Tapley; men, Deaker v. McLeod; Sumpter v. Lindsay. Southland will be fairly well represented at the Otago Easter tournament and it will not be surprising if honours come south. Beaker's showing in the Otago-Southland match gives him a good chance of going well through in the men’s singles, though W. G. Robertson, of Timaru, will prove a stumbling block for anyone who meets him in the earlier rounds, no less than in the final. Miss Melvin has only to reproduce the form she showed against Miss Calvei to go close to winning the ladies’ singles. Both Winston Strang and Allan Baird are competing in the junior events and both are quite capable of going through to the final. They are pairing in the doubles and if the handicapper is not too severe they may well annex the event.

D. S. McLeod and George Barnes are two who I believe are going to try their luck at Roxburgh. There'are many compensations in Roxburgh even if one is put out of the tourney. Not that I am suggesting early defeats for these two Southlanders. McLeod should stand a good chance in the singles championship, while Barnes has the knack of winning handicap events. Central made no race of it against Invercargill last Saturday. Hughes was an absentee from the Central ranks and Miss Logan and Sumpter from Invercargill. It was anticipated that the ladies’ events would go to Central, but the Invercargill men were expected to win most of their games. Strettell and Lopdell, however, went down in their’ singles to Paterson and McKay respectively. Cockerill accounted for Stubbs and J ack surprised himself as well as others

by defeating Hilton. The Invercargill men won both doubles, .Jack again showing good form. The mixed doubles, however, proved Invercargill's undoing, all four games going to Central. Miss Cutt impressed by her display against Miss Guest, the latter having only two games to spare at the finish. St. Mary’s showed excellent form against Winton, the men winning all the singles and one of the doubles. In the other events honours were easy. Lindsay and Henderson were absentees from the Winton team. The Gladstone men did not lose a set against Georgetown, this superiority giving the former team a win by 10 sets to 6. Kennington are still undefeated in the B grade competition. They will have a fairly hard game to-day against Rugby Park but should just about win. Kennington’s last game is against Southern. Southend are leading in the C grade competition and it is unlikely that they will be displaced. Lopdell and Strettell had an interesting ladder match this week. Strettell began well, taking the first four games. Then Lopdell began driving and volleying in deadly fashion. Ten games went to him in succession and it looked as if he would win in straight sets. Then the tide turned in Strettell’s favour and he took the second set. Lopdell led 3—l in the third, but another rally by Strettell gave him the set and the match. The Central-Western District match at Limehills last Saturday was won by the latter by 16 sets to 8. Woodhead did well to beat Higgins 9—6 and he and Thompson played excellently against Higgins and

Vickers whom they defeated 9—6. Misses Payne and Campbell combined well against Mesdames Duncan and Malcolm and won 6—5. Miss Payne also played well in her mixed double. Central District had a more pronounced “tail” than Western, this being responsible,for the latter’s comfortable win. North Otago and Otago meet to-day at Oamaru. The North Otago team is:—K. Bryan, F. Gallagher, R. J. Carleton (Waimate), A. Feathers, J. Familton, K. Familton; Misses D. Miller, D. Blakie, Mrs D. Borrie (Waimate), Misses J. Gibb, K. Weavers, Mrs R. J. Carleton (Waimate). The Otago side is as follows: —S. G. McDougall, G. Pearce, H. Pollock, G. I. Black, C. Deaker, R. Phillips; Misses E. Partridge, J. White, H. Cox, E. Barton, A. Rackley, Mrs Cheyne.

The quarterly report of the executive presented to the last meeting of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association stated that the tour of the Australian ladies had been a complete success. The visitors were greeted with enthusiasm wherever they appeared, and the results exceeded expectations. No other team had undertaken such an extensive tour of the Dominion, and no other team had carried out its obligations with such complete regard for the association’s interests. When the team was at Wellington £l5O was taken, and £675 at Auckland. On the last day of the match at Auckland two policemen were needed at the gate to control the crowd, and this showed the public interest that had been aroused by the tour.