TENNIS

Southland Times, Issue 22490, 26 January 1935, Page 13

TENNIS

(By

“Chop.”)

Kay and Ewin play at Invercargill on February 6. Town v. Western at Riverton today. B grade matches to-day. The draw is: Bluff v. St. Marys at Bluff; Georgetown v. Southend at Southend; Invercargill v. Rugby Park at Invercargill; Makarewa v. Gladstone at Gladstone; Waihopai 1 v. Waihopai 2 at Waihopai; Central v. Kennington at Central. New Zealand championships in progress at Auckland. Tisbury and Rugby Park, section winners in the C grade competition, will play off next Saturday. A knock-out competition will then be commenced. Town v. Country at Invercargill on February 16. Southland v. Otago at the Waihopai courts on March 2. Southland v. North Otago at Oamaru on March 23. A Southland team will play Roxburgh some time next month. So far George Pearce has done well in the New Zealand championships but he is likely to encounter stiffer opposition in the third round. His brother and Pollock failed to survive the first round. The best four in the mens singles would appear to be Perry, Kay, Ewin and France. Miss Nicholls will be hard to beat in the women’s singles, though Miss Knight must be playing well to have beaten the Australian, Miss Whittaker. The Representative Team. Southland, having beaten Otago at Dunedin last year, is perhaps in danger of being lulled into a false sense of security. Otago is certain to send down a strong team this year to recover lost prestige; and unless the Southlanders are at the top of their form they will experience difficulty in winning. On their displays in club matches it would appear that some of last year’s team have slipped. Probably this is due to less serious practice than last season, but it is to be hoped that all who are in the running for provincial honours will get down to business in the coming month. Southland may have many promising juniors, but it cannot do without such players as Miss Melvin, Mrs Hanan, Miss Guest, Miss Rein, Deaker, McLeod and Corckerill if it hopes to beat Otago. The Southland team will be announced after the Town-Country match and the association will be well advised to hold some team practice in the fortnight intervening between that game and the Otago match. At Waimatuku. The C grade players who took part in the game against WaimatukuThornbury last Saturday gave a good account of themselves, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. There was nothing stodgy about most of the tennis which was played, good, fast shots being more in evidence than safety first tactics. With practice among better players, McLean would become a good all-rounder, while McKenzie, once his ground strokes were more reliable, could be brilliant at the net. Johnstone, Tisbury’s top man, should soon be good enough for A grade. He should strengthen his backhand and keep the head of his racket up when volleying. Wood gave such good displays that one wonders that he is not in Central’s B grade team. Marchant’s serve is weak, but otherwise his game is fairly sound. Mclntosh likes to take everything in the air, his placement volleys bringing him many points. From the ground his shots are of the push variety—a bar to progress. The Misses Mclntosh show considerable promise, but are apt to use their arm too much and their body too little in driving, faulty footwork being the cause of this. If Miss Walsh and Miss Glennie hit harder and in a slightly more reckless spirit, their game would improve. This also applies to Miss Matchett. Miss Lindsay .thoroughly enjoys her tennis and places lyA Welcome Visit. The news that two brilliant young Victorians, Kay and Ewin, are to play exhibition matches at Invercargill on Wednesday, February 6, should be received with a great deal of satisfaction by Southlanders who have been pining for such a visit. Though not in the class of Crawford, Quist and McGrath, these youthful Victorians have many excellent performances to their credit and have begun the New Zealand championships most impressively. They play tennis of a most entertaining kind, hitting hard from the ground and volleying crisply, while Ewin can unleash a service even faster than Turnbull’s. The executive of the Southland Association had no hesitation in accepting the offer made by the N.Z.L.T.A., despite the guarantee it entailed, and it is to be hoped the weather will prove so fine as to flood the Waihopai courts with sunshine and people. A Grade Matches.

The A Graders appear to have rather lost interest in the competition, which is a pity, for although the issue lies between Invercargill A and Waihopai, it’s not the winning of the shield that counts so much as the value and pleasure of match play. The summer holidays were undoubtedly largely responsible for the two defaults last Saturday but it is to be hoped an epidemic is not going to commence. The end of the season is a long way off, particularly as Easter is so late. The Central-St. Mary’s game and the Georgetown-Southend game were to have been completed during the week but at the time of writing a decision has not yet been reached in either game, the unsettled weather having prevented play. Barnes’s decisive defeat of Gray surprised a good many, but the Georgetown top mans aggressiveness at the net causes many upsets. AWARUA v. WALLACE. It was unfortunate that rain set in prior to the conclusion of the interelectorate match, Wallace v. Awarua, although the final result could not have been greatly affected (writes our Otautau correspondent).

The first match in the men’s doubles produced some very good tennis, the Wallace pair (Welsh and Burgess) attacking more vigorously than their opponents (G. Lindsay and Henderson), their overhead work being very effective. In this match Lindsay played a really good game, but Henderson was just a little out of form and the better pair won. The balance of the Wallace men recorded wins, Bruce and Blaikie leading in an unfinished game, 5—2, against Mclvor and McCurdy. In the women’s doubles the Wallace players proved superior, winning two out of thq three matches. Another very interesting game was witnessed in the ladies’ singles when Miss Wilson met Miss Glennie. The former drove very accurately, her length was perfect and her smashing was good. She thoroughly deserved her win, but her opponent came through with credit. The Wallace men proved too strong in the singles, winning the six games. Some very fast tennis was witnessed. Welsh (first man), proved too good for the veteran, G. Lindsay, the former’s driving having a bit more sting than the Awarua man, although the latter was placing well. The other singles were all keenly contested. Of the four games played in the mixed doubles Awarua succeeded in only winning one. Prior to leaving for home Mr P. Grant (president of the Western District Tennis Sub-association) thanked the visitors for fulfilling the fixture. He said he was sorry to see the veteran, Mr G. Lindsay, go down, as he had played for Awarua for a good many years, but he would recognize that age had to give way to youth. Wallace had lost some of their foremost lady players, but those taking part that day had held their own. Some of the tennis witnessed was of a very high order. The members of the Wallace team always enjoyed the games with Awarua on account of the friendly spirit prevailing between the two electorates, and they would look forward next year to meeting them again for the Hamilton Shield. , ~ „ . In reply Mr O. A. B. Smith said that although Wallace had proved too strong for them on this occasion, they had some pleasant games. Wallace was a class above them this year. He congratulated the members of the team on their win, thanked them for their hospitality and wished them every success in their match against Mataura for the trophy. Mr R. Wilson (Wallace) said there was a feeling that some arrangement should be made regarding the fixation of dates for the matches between the electorates and suggested that there should be some controlling body for this purpose. If this were done it would prevent any misunderstanding arising. Mr Paterson (Wallace) suggested that the matter should be discussed between the members of the three electorates. An informal discussion took place regarding this matter and eventually it was decided to have a round-table conference among the representatives of the Wallace, Awarua and Mataura electorates.

EASTERN SOUTHLAND NOTES.

(By “Volley.”)

The second round of the Eastern Southland A, B and C grade competition matches was commenced on Wednesday in fair weather conditions. In the A grade Gore experienced no difficulty in defeating Citizens. The final scores were nine sets to six. Both teams were weakened considerably by the absence of some of their most prominent players, however, but a high standard of play was maintained. In the first ladies’ singles Miss Wilson defeated Miss Kelly by seven games to love. This match was not so onesided as the score indicates, lack of finish losing Miss Kelly several games and probably the match. Miss Wilson played a very sound game, however, and made very few mistakes. Hall and H. Aitken had a very even match in the first men’s singles, but lack of practice told where Aitken was concerned, and he was just a little weak on some of his shots. Hall played a forceful game, driving and smashing vigorously. In the B grade Citizens, who are still at the top of the . competition, justscraped home against Anglican on games. The Anglican men were superior in all quarters, dropping only one double. The Citizens’ ladies were too strong, however, taking every match. St. Andrews went down to St. Patricks, nine sets to six. The St. Patricks’ ladies were too experienced for their opponents, winning every match. In the first ladies’ double, Miss Hampton and Miss D. Smith, the St. Andrew’s pair, played a great game against their former A grade opponents, and show great promise of developing into a very fine combination. The St. Andrews men won all their games, but it was in the mixed doubles that the team failed and lost the match. <

Gore completely outclassed Mataura, playing on the latter’s courts, the final scores being 12 sets to three. The St. Andrew’s C team scored their first win of the season on Wednesday by defeating St. Patricks by nine sets to seven. There were no other C grade matches played. Gore High School had a bye, and Citizens defaulted to Anglican.