Tennis Season Ends With Two Grade Finals : Senior Title To Invercargill

Southland Times, Issue 23796, 19 April 1939, Page 11

Tennis Season Ends With Two Grade Finals : Senior Title To Invercargill

By

TOPSPIN

The Invercargill tennis competitions were concluded on Saturday when Invercargill beat Central to win the A grade shield, and Southern had a narrow victory over Waihopai to win the intermediate grade.

The day was overcast with light rain at intervals, but there was not sufficient to cause serious delays. Both matches were concluded in semi-dark-ness.

Central’s ranks were weakened by the absence of several players, and Invercargill gained a comfortable win. Roy Howe recently received an appointment in Wellington on the staff of a firm which has begun the manufacture of tennis rackets and sporting materials; otherwise he would have been available to play for Central. Merlo and Miss Henderson were still away after competing in' tournaments in Wellington and Dunedin respectively, while Mrs McGrath is lost to Central now that she is residing in Wellington. Without these players Central made a bold effort to put up a good showing, and was not disgraced to gain only five sets. Central gained a promising start when its women won both doubles. Misses Deegan and Woods combined better than Misses Cutt and Barrett, and both Mrs Robson and Miss Reid played above themselves with a flow of vigorous, well-directed drives that landed deep to their opponents’ baseline.

The Invercargill men evened to win both their doubles. Collis and McKay had a hard driving game. McKay endeavoured to open up the attack with drives to the opposite backhand corner, but he was not always able to follow in close enough to finish oft his shots at the net. Stubbs forced Deaker to a long singles before admitting defeat. Deaker’s groundstrokes were superior, and he gained a good lead, but Stubbs fought back, and taking the net repeatedly, he -won many points with well-directed volleys. Hodgson and Shand had many long rallies in a set which lasted more than an hour. Shand’s drives did not carry quite their usual pace. Sutherland broke Invercargill’s run to win the only men’s singles for Central. Larcombe’s game is founded on a fast forehand,, and he found Sutherland a little too versatile with a command of drive, smash and drop shot. When Central met Invercargill earlier in the season Miss Deegan created a surprise by her win over Miss Cutt, and no doubt Invercargill’s first woman was keen to avenge this defeat. Miss Deegan played with determination, but Miss Cutt showed patience in waiting for a loose overhead shot which her forceful smash despatched for a winner. PROMISING YOUNG PLAYER The best singles of the day was that between Miss Woods and the promising junior Miss Barrett. It was an excellent exhibition of forceful driving. Miss Woods made few excursions to the net, but her backhand was better executed, and though she did not gain the same speed with her forehand as did Miss Barrett her drives on this side were directed with more guile. Miss Reid and Mrs Robson did not show the same form in singles as in doubles, and both Mrs Lipscombe and Miss Fairburn won with something to spare. Invercargill won three of the mixed doubles, Central’s only success being the win of Stubbs and Miss Deegan over Deaker and Mrs Lipscombe. INTERMEDIATE FINAL Southern finished up a good season by beating Waihopai, and thus winning the intermediate grade. Southern had had one previous loss when it was beaten by Waihopai at their meeting earlier in the season, but the Southern women rose to the occasion on Saturday, and were chiefly responsible for turning the tables in the final. Rain held up play for a short time, and, whereas at the Invercargill courts the A grade final was being played without being affected by the wind, the control of the ball was much more difficult on the less-sheltered Southern courts. The match resulted in a very close finish and during the afternoon neither team succeeded in gaining any appreciable lead.

Southern was ahead by eight seti to seven with the last set, the second men’s singles between Ware and McGrouther to be decided, but the Waihopai man was given the extremely difficult task of saving the match by gaining a 9-1 decision for a win, or 9-2 for a draw, and although he ultimately won the singles to make the sets even, Southern was ahead by five games. This match was completed in a light so bad that the umpire had to call on a number of players to act as line umpires. „ . , Playing steadily, and profiting by nis opponent’s errors, J. Gordon, was the only Southern man to win his singles. His opponent, Mahoney, plays an allcourt game, but he found he could not get away with the tactics of taking up position inside the service line. Returning to the baseline he recovered from 2-6 to make the score 8-all. He failed to hold his service in the seventeenth, and the match ended with a doublefault. . Against Ware, W. McGrouther played steadily; he retrieved well and lobbed judiciously, but Ware won with faster pace and better placements. Mullen lead 7-3, but when he went half way to the net, Brown had him trying to half-volley balls at his icet, and the Southern man collected three games. The writer has seen only three players adopt such positional play with success, and Mullen has yet to acquire the volleying touch of a Christien Boussus, a Harry Hopman or a Henn Cochet. Returning to the baseline Mullen gained three games in a row for the set. . . . Serving well, smashing vigorously and making few errors, F. Dillon won well with the loss of three games. Paton was unfortunate in meeting a player right on form. The Southern women were, on the day, much too good for the Waihopai women. . , Mrs Gray could make little headway against Mrs Jones, who played steadily and used a chop with effect. Miss Henderson found Miss O Halloran too accurate and Miss Crawford

was unable to cope with Mrs Paterson’s strong forehand, and solid baseline play. Miss Hemmings was the only Waihopai girl to win a singles. A lefthander, she retrieves well, and she had Mrs Paton in difficulties with a drive down the sideline. SOUTH ISLAND CONTETS Besides being strongly represented at the Otago championships in Dunedin, and the Tuapeka championships at Roxburgh, Southland players also competed in the South Island championships at Christchurch, and the Wellington tournament. lan Shand has had an ambition for some years to try himself out on grass, but he was unfortunate in meeting the runner-up of the New Zealand singles title, H A. Barnett, in the second round. Shand managed to get two games, the score being 6-0, 6-2 for Barnett. Miss H. Butler beat Miss M. Shand 9-4. Shand and Miss Shand entered in the mixed doubles and went out in the second round to a strong pair in J. H. W. Sheppard, a former partner of Geoff Ollivier, and Miss J. Senior, third ranked player in Canterbury, with the score 0-6, 5-7. The tournament was a personal triumph for C. A. Angas, for he beat R. G. Pattinson in the singles final, and won the men’s doubles with Barnett and the mixed doubles with Miss T. Poole.

Roy Howe won the singles at the Wellington Easter tournament. Describing the final The Evening Post said

that Howe and M. Ferkins gave a most entertaining display. Howe lead 5-2 in the third set, lapsed into errors, but won at 6-1, 2-6, 7-5.

Howe paired with his sister, Mr? R. P. Adams, a former New Zealand singles champion, but they lost in the final of the mixed doubles. Gyles and Lyons eliminated Howe and C. A. Sharp in the quarter final. Merlo, of Central, had wins in early rounds of several events. Howe had had valuable singles practice before the tournament with both Don and Len France. His "mark of owe 40, 3-6 in the handicap singles is an indication of how his form is regarded in Wellington. SEASON IN REVIEW The season just concluded has been marked by unfavourable weather. The secession movement caused a stir early in the season, but the association met the position by granting the request of the Eastern District to segregate business affecting sub-associa-tions from that of purely Invercargill concern, and selection of the provincial teams on ladder principles. There were no exhibitions by visiting players of note. The Galloway Cup competition was converted to a champion-of-champions contest.

Eastern lost the Hamilton Shield by the narrow margin of one game to Central, who retained it to the end of the season in spite of challenges from the other sub-associations. Poor entries were received for the Southland championships, but it has been decided not to abandon them. Provincial titleholders are:— Men’s Singles: C. H. Baird. Men’s Doubles: R. A. H. Howe and C. H. Baird.

Women’s Singles: Miss I. Henderson. Mixed Doubles: Howe and Miss K. Cutt.

Junior Girls’ Singles: Miss L. Barrett.

Junior Boys’ Singles: J. E. McLean.

Miss R. Wilson, reached the semi-final of the New Zealand championship singles and the final of the women’s doubles. She holds the women’s doubles title of Otago with Miss Miller, and the mixed doubles title with K. Bryan. Commenting on the final of this event Recorder of The Evening Star, Dunedin, says that it was one of the best matches which has ever been seen in a final at Logan Park.

Winners of the Galloway Cups were B. Whelan and Miss J. Wilson. The following gained representative honours:—

R. Howe, A. T. Baird, B. Whelan, R. McCallum, C. A. Sharp. L. T. Cockerill, I. Shand and J. J. Banks. Misses R. Wilson, J. Wilson, K. Cutt, L. Mehaffey, I. Henderson, J. Kelly, M. Shand and M. Woods.-

In the two representative fixtures Southland lost to North Otago by 10 matches to 14, and to Otago by 11 matches to 13. The town competition winners were: Senior A: Invercargill. . Senior B: Invercargill.

Intermediate: Southern. C. Grade: St. Mary’s. ' W. Gunn, holder of the New Zealand doubles title with N. F. Bedford, recently left Auckland for London. In Auckland Gunn was a top-rank player, and had been a member of the Wilding Cup team. There is a probability of him playing in the Wimbledon tournament in June. Though the New Zealand competitors are limited to four, which number is already filled by the Davis Cup team, Gunn’s entry may be accepted. Alternatively, he may be required to play in the elimination contests to complete the draw. The four New Zealanders are Malfroy, Coombe, Dewar Brown and the national champion, Neil Edwards. The writer has seen all five in action and considers that both Brown and Gunn are capable of bringing off surprises. Next month New Zealand meets England in the first round of the Davis Cup series. It is reported that Austin is not available in which case New Zealand’s chances of a win against England cannot be discounted. Though the tennis season is now concluded there will be much doing in the tennis world overseas, with the stars competing in the big championships, Wimbledon and the Davis Cup. Tennis players in Southland will not have much regret in putting away their rackets for the winter, but will hope for something better from the elements for the next season.

! Miss Mona Leydon, the well- « • known swimming champion, has 8 ! left Auckland to spend a holiday | i in the United States. To im- • • prove her swimming, Miss Lev- J i don hopes to discuss methods of ■ i training with American coaches J J and champions. She is accom- J J panied by her mother and in- ■ • tends to return to New Zealand J • next September. She did not , i take part in championship events ■ i this season, but intends to com- < J pete again next season with a , ■ view to being selected for the s • Olympic Games in Finland next ’ J year. a