LAWN TENNIS

Southland Times, Issue 23390, 23 December 1937, Page 11

LAWN TENNIS

EASTERN SOUTHLAND COMPETITION

HAMILTON SHIELD MATCH (By VOLLEY) Eastern Southland successfully defended the Hamilton Shield in its first challenge match against Central. The Eastern men’s team has been very strong this year for country tennis, and it was too good for the Central players, who won only one set in this section. There were some evenly-contested matches, however, and some interesting sets were played. . The match between Horsburgh and Welsh provided a splendid display of tennis. The young Central player showed that he had a good knowledge of the game and he fully extended Welsh, his more experienced opponent, who succeeded in winning only 9-8. Horsburgh played a slice or chop stroke very well and his timing was extremely good. He used this stroke frequently and his correct placements often had Welsh in trouble. Welsh had the advantage of having more experience, however, and he managed to force Horsburgh into errors because of better court-craft. . . . Hamilton, another young visiting player, showed considerable promise. He was the only Central player to win his single, beating Strang 9-7. He held the upper hand practically throughout the set. Strang lost a lot of strokes by coming up to the net on weak ground shots, it being easy for his opponent to drop the ball at his feet or lob over his head. Hamilton appeared to prefer the former shot, and he had Strang in difficulties on numerous occasions. _'he other men’s singles were won rather easily by Eastern. There were two evenly-contested sets in the men’s doubles. Welsh and Baird and D. M. McLeod and Strang just managed to win their sets against Horsburgh and Hamilton and Woodhead and Driscoll respectively by one game in each set. The Central women gave good displays and secured four out of the six singles played. It was rather surprising that after giving such a display in the singles they should drop all of the doubles. Certainly there was not much between the players in the doubles and the Eastern women won only by small margins, but the Central women should have done better in these sets. MIXED DOUBLES GAMES The majority ot the mixed doubles games also resulted in wins for the home side. These sets were not played in a very serious manner, as Eastern was well up in sets before any of them were played. Thet next association to challenge for the shield will be Western, and this game will be played some time in January. The Eastern Southland A grade competition is in a very interesting position at present. Wyndham No. 1 and Citizens are equal at the top, both having played five matches and won four. Gore began the season well and it appeared that this team would stand a good chance of winning the competition, especially when it beat Wyndham No. 1 so easily. Actually it is in the same position as the two top teams, having lost only one match. Rain prevented its matches against Wyndham No. 2 and St. Andrew’s from being finished, but it should have no difficulty in beating these teams. It has lost the services of L. T. Cockerill, however, and the team will be considerably weakened because of this. The secretary has requested that all unfinished matches should be played as soon as possible, as the competition will begin again early in the new year. The positions of the teams in the A grade competition are as follows:—

COMPETITION IN CENTRAL DISTRICT Playing at Dipton in the Central District tennis competition, Dipton A beat Oreti by 11 sets to five. Following are the results, Dipton names being mentioned first:— Combined Doubles.—Shand and Mrs Whitaker beat Findlay and Mrs R. J. Woods, 7-4; Watt and Mrs Ewen lost to Woods and Mrs J. J. Woods, 5-7; Martin and Miss Stewart beat McLean and Miss Barber, 7-3; O’Callaghan and Miss Taylor beat. Findlay and Miss McLean, 7.2.

Men’s Doubles.—Shand and Watt beat Findlay and J. J. Woods, 9-7; Martin and O’Callaghan beat McLean and Findlay, 9-3.

Women’s Doubles.—Mrs Whitaker and Miss Ewen beat Mrs R. J. Woods and Mrs J. J. Woods, 7-6; Misses Stewart and Taylor lost to Misses Barker and McLean, 1-7. Men’s Singles.—Shand beat W. Findlay, 9-0; Watt beat J. J. Woods, 9-4; Martin beat McLean, 9-1; O’Callaghan beat A. Findlay, 9-2. Women’s Singles.—Mrs Whitaker lost to Mrs R. J. Woods, 2-7; Miss Ewen lost to Mrs J. J. Woods, 5-7; Miss Stewart beat Miss Barker, 7-4; Miss Taylor lost to Miss McLean, 6-7. Dipton A, 11 sets, 108 games; Oreti, five sets, 71 games.

P. W. L. D. Pts. Wyndham No. 1 5 4 1 0 8 Citizens 5 4 1 0 8 Gore 3 2 1 0 4 Mataura 5 2 3 0 4 St. Andrew’s 4 1 3 0 2 Wyndham No. 2 4 0 4 0 0