LAWN TENNIS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLI, Issue 20335, 6 February 1936, Page 10

LAWN TENNIS

NOTES ON THE GAME (By “Set All”) As predicted, the Timaru B grade team gained its first win in this grade against Aorangi last Saturday by 10 matches to five, there being one uncompleted match. One of the best matches of the day was the singles between Turnbull and Sexton. The Timaru man has been playing sound tennis this season, and Sexton’s cross-court forehand drive on his backhand was nearly always covered. After a game in which there were many good rallies, the Timaru man ran out the winner by the margin of four games. M. Watson, of Timaru. is playing improved tennis and gained a good win against the steady Aorangi player H. McNeill, and got home by the odd game. W. Roberts, who appeared in Timaru club competition as far back as 1913, which was the year in which the Civil Service team in which he was playing won the A grade competition, was too steady a player for L. Mclntyre. G. Sinclair gained Aorangi’s only win in the men’s section, driving with more accuracy than usual, and defeating S. Martin, who has not regained his last season’s form. Both doubles went to Timaru by safe margins. Miss D. Jones and Miss M. Jefferson played some good tennis in their singles, the Timaru player being more active on the court, and continuing to show improvement. E. Patchett also played well to defeat Miss C. Robertson. Mrs Dossor and Miss Vine, of Aorangi. won their respective singles at the expense of Miss Robertson and Miss N. Oxford. These were the only wins in the women’s section, both doubles going to Timaru. In the mixed doubles Sexton and Miss Jones combined well to defeat Turnbull and Miss Patchett. Sexton was on his game at the net and gained many winners for his team. Wai-iti B 1 came to light with a decisive win over Geraldine, hitherto undefeated in the competition. The Geraldine men were by no means at their full strength, and the Wai-iti players only dropped eighteen games in this section.

S. Blanchard is fast improving, and shows promise of developing into a really good player. He hits a good firehand drive, but expects too much from it. H. Dingwall and N. Keely also won from their Geraldine opponents, and B. Kerr got home by the odd game from Gimpson. In the women’s section Geraldine gained the honours, Miss M. Kerr being the only winner for Wai-iti. Almost most of the games were fairly evenly contested. Miss O. Davey found the Geraldine No. 1 player. Miss M. Kennedy, too sound a proposition. The doubles events were divided, the first double going to Misses Davey and Kerr, of Wai-iti, and the second to Misses Hislop and Deane, of Geraldine. All four mixed doubles events went to Wai-iti by big margins. The following A grade matches will be played on Saturday Aorangi 1 v. Timaru, St. John’s v. Aorangi 11. The match between Wai-iti and Highfield may be postponed. The selectors of the South Canterbury representative team advise that the representatives will practise next week at Maori Park on Tuesday and Thursday nights, the women at 4 and the men at 5 o’clock. Following on the recent defeat of N. T. Satterthwaite by A. E. Sandrel in three sets, the first six players of the men’s ranking list now stand as follows—A. C. Barr. A. E. Sandrel, N. T. Satterthwaite, M. Souter, G. C. Reid, I. Mathieson. After alteration, the first six players on the women’s ranking list are— Mrs R. Lewis, Miss D. Smythe, Miss M. Callaghan, Miss D. Shirtcliffe, Miss B. Sutherland, Miss J. Eaton. During his stay in Australia. W. E. Renton has had the opportunity of witnessing the Australian Tennis Championships. He says that all through the tournament the heat was terrific, and flies were swarming round in droves. A number of the players wore large floppy hats. Speaking of the competitions, he says that W. Bromwich is a promising junior,, six feet tall and sturdily built. He slogs or swipes the ball with a two-handed forehand. It is not a pretty stroke, but is a match winner. Shots to his left he plays with his left hand only, and his servicing is rather poor in comparison with the rest of his game. A. Huxley is very small in build, but for his size is a terrific smasher, and they seldom come back. Turnbull is a slogger, typical of the Australian game. Miss Thelma Coyne, who has come into prominence in the last year, plays a good all round game, and she has a style similar to that of Crawford, has beautiful balance, is strongly built for 17 years, and serves hard, after the style of Mrs Barker. She is also very keen to get into the net and finish off a rally. Another junior, J. Brodie, aged 17, is also a full grown lad. who put up a wonderful fight against Quist in the first round. His ground shots were excellent, and he kept the Australian champion from the net by his accuracy. This player will be prominent in Australian tennis in the very near future. Throughout the tournament, Crawford appeared to be carrying too much weight, and the consensus of opinion w’as that he was not at the top of his form.