SEVERAL MAJOR UPSETS

Southland Times, Issue 24313, 19 December 1940, Page 9

SEVERAL MAJOR UPSETS

Inter-Club Tennis Matches By SMASH The Southland Lawn Tennis Association’s competitions were carried a stage further in all three grades last Saturday, when some very close games and some major upsets were seen. While it had been expected that the Winton-Rugby Park game in the A grade would be a close one, probably not even the most enthusiastic of Rugby Park’s supporters ever expected that the final score would be as close as it was. With sets even, Winton just managed to get home by 99 games tj 98. Rugby Park had a strong advantage in the women’s section, winning five sets out of six, but the men lost all their singles and one of their doubles. The other sections were evenly divided, and it was the odd game that carried the day. Probably the outstanding performance of the day was that of Miss M. Lindsay (Winton), who defeated Miss R. Henry 7-4. This was the only women’s game that Winton won. F. Lindsay and G. Hamilton (Winton) had comparatively easy wins in their singles, but Hughes and Sleeman (Rugby Park) took their respective opponents somewhat closer, the score in each case being 9-7 in Winton’s favour. Tisbury was unfortunate in its match against Waihopai in being without the services of J. Johnstone, who was not available through sickness. T. Mclntosh defeated I. Hall (Waihopai) by 9-7 in the top men’s singles and it seems likely that had Tisbury been up to full strength the result would have been different. R. Ferguson, a promoted Tisbury B grade player, defeated Dillon (Waihopai) in the fourth men’s singles 9-6, while the Waihopai women won four out of six matches. Considerable interest was taken in the Invercargill I-Central game at Central, in which the home team, last year’s title-holders, suffered its second defeat of the season. It is only fair to say, however, that it was rather below full strength, and while the Invercargill women had things all their own way, winning all six sets, Central put up a good fight in the men’s section. It was pleasing to see the reappearance of D. Bruce in the Central team. He was clearly suffering from lack of practice, but even so gave Larcombe a close run to 9-8, the set ending in the Invercargill man’s favour. Townsend and Breen played well for Central, winning their singles and doubles and mixed doubles. SPLENDID FIGHT

The game at Invercargill (St. Mary’sInvercargill II) proved a most interesting one, though, as was expected, the result was never in doubt. Tire young Invercargill players put up a splendid fight, and did very well to gain five sets from their more experienced opponents. Miss Pollok (Invercargill) was the only woman to win a singles and her defeat of Miss Shepherd 7-5 was a meritorious one. Lang and Shanks, third and fourth for Invercargill, played very well in their singles, and defeated Floyd and Walker respectively. The other sets to Invercargill were won by Miller and Shanks, who beat Radford and Walker 9-7, and Lang and Mrs Truscott, who beat Floyd and Mrs Prendergast 9-8 after a very close game. Probably the biggest surprise in the B grade was the defeat of the hitherto unbeaten St. Mary’s team by Southern by a substantial margin. Southern had had one defeat this season at the hands of Rugby Park by a margin of eight sets, but up to last Saturday there had been no indication that it would be capable of upsetting St. Mary’s. Rugby Park, with a win over Waihopai last Saturday, now stands two points clear of any other team in this grade, but it is not by any means incapable of losing the championship on that account. The Rugby Park team does not draw its bye until after Christmas, and this should give other teams a chance to pull up. There is also a possibility that some other team may defeat it, and draw level later in the season. As to the remaining games in this grade— Invercargill had a comfortable win over a weakened Tisbury team, while Waikiwi and Collegiate had close wins of 9 sets to 7 over Makarewa and Kennington respectively. C GRADE MATCHES In the C grade Otatara beat the hitherto undefeated Rugby Park team 9-7, and St. Mary’s and Moana also had wins, the latter by a close margin over Southern. The Otatara team is to be congratulated on its sterling performance in winning this match. Four teams are now level at the top of the C grade ladder, an eventuality which was forecast by “Smash” last week. It was the men who won the match for Otatara with wins in three singles and both doubles. Women’s singles and mixed doubles were evenly divided, while both women’s doubles went to Rugby Park. It is a matter of interest that although Otatara won the match by sets, it was six down in games. The Collegiate team shows a weakness in the doubles, and the fact that Wallace town won seven of the eight doubles largely accounts for its win. Collegiate players would do well to practise their doubles combinations between matches, in the hope of improving their play. Wallacetown won all four women’s singles by big margins, but only one of the men’s singles. Clifton recorded its first win of the season by beating Southend 11 sets to 5. C GRADE TOURNAMENT It had been hoped that the C Grade tournament would have been completed last Tuesday at the Waihopai Courts, but the event has been dogged by indifferent conditions, with the result that only one final, the women’s doubles, has so far been played. Splendid form has been exhibited throughout by those taking part, and some fine matches have been seen. There is always considerable difficulty in handicapping for an event of this kind, particularly as it is early in the season when not many matches have been played. However, on the whole, no very glaring discrepancies have come to light, and competitors have had a great deal of pleasure out of the tournament as well as a lot of good tennis. The women’s doubles title went to Misses Henderson and Patterson (Waihopai), who beat Mrs Branks and Miss White (Moana) very easily in the final. In the men’s singles the finalists are S. Hunt (Moana) on owe 15 and T. Heads (Bluff) on owe 3/6. The women’s singles will be fought out between Misses Smith and Townsend. Great credit is due to Miss Townsend for her play during the tournament. This player who is only a school girl, reached the semi-finals in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles and the final in the singles. She is a daughter of L. G. Townsend, a former Eastern District representative, and now a member of the Central A team. Playing in some cases against women considerably older and more experienced than herself, she showed herself to be an energetic player with a good range of strokes, and a surprising sense of courtcraft. There is no doubt that she will go far in tennis, and it is to be hoped that before long she

will be seen in action in the Southland junior championships where the additional experience will do her much good. LOSS TO TENNIS K. Forde (St. Mary’s) is a player whose activities in the cricket world are causing a loss to tennis in the district. He plays a good all-round game, is a smooth and clean hitter, and is a most attractive player to watch. His match against R. Tipene (Bluff) in the men s singles again and again brought applause from the gallery, and had their handicaps been closer there is every reason to believe that the result might have been different. As it was, Tipene beat Forde 7-4. , , W. R. Scandrett, the diminutive Waihopai player, did very well to reach the semi-final of the men’s singles. He has a good range of strokes and is • not afraid to hit hard. In a few years he also is going to be a valuable addition to tennis in the district. . The few remaining matches are being fitted in to suit players’ convenience as far as possible, and it is hoped that they will be completed by the end of this week. So far no entries have been received for the Galloway Cup events, and town clubs are reminded that the closing date is December 24. CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS With all results credited to date, the following is the position of teams in the various grades:— A GRADE

P. W. L. Sets Games Pts. Invercargill I 3 3 - 38 366 3 Winton 3 3 - 34 344 3 St. Mary's 3 3 - 28 341 3 Rugby Park 3 1 2 28 318 1 Central 3 1 2 26 325 1 Waihopai 3 1 2 17 278 1 Tisbury 3 - 3 13 258 0 Invercargill II 3 - 3 8 292 0 B GRADE Rugby Park 7 7 - 98 879 7 Invercargill 6 5 1 75 718 5 Si. Mary's 6 5 1 60 635 5 Waihopai 6 4 2 61 661 4 Southern 5 4 1 57 558 4 Southend 6 4 2 56 617 4 Waikiwi 6 4 2 55 593 4 Collegiate 5 3 2 45 493 3 Makarewa 6 1 5 30 474 1 Tisbury 5 1 4 29 436 1 rvennington 6 - 6 19 377 0 Georgetown 6 - 6 12 235 0 Central 6 - 6 1 61 0 C GRADE Rugby Park 5 4 1 58 577 4 St. Mary’s 5 4 1 56 576 4 Moana 5 4 1 48 556 4 Otatara 5 4 1 47 539 4 Waihopai 4 *» 1 39 434 3 Southern 5 2 3 44 506 2 Collegiate 4 2 2 23 354 2 Wallacetown 4 1 3 30 360 1 Clifton 4 1 3 35 363 1 Southend 4 s 4 16 257 0 Makarewa 5 - 5 11 307 0