LAWN TENNIS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17170, 13 October 1923, Page 9

LAWN TENNIS.

SENIOR COMPETITION. The fifth round of the Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association’s men's senior competition was played to-day. Conditions were rather unpleasant at Bom© courts owing to the wind, which blew high. at times. Th© following are the results:— CANTERBURY COLLEGE v. OPAWA. Canterbury College beat Opawa at Opawa, by one game. The following are j the scores (Canterbury College, names first):— B. B. Loughnan 3, Ollivier 9. Seay 9. Patterson 5. A. Loughnan 9. Harman 5. Clark 9, Robinson 8. Doubles. B. Loughnan and Seay 3, Ollivier . and Patterson 9. i A. Loughnan and Robinson 9, Harman j and Clark 3. Totals—Canterbury College 41; Opawa 49. The match between it. B. Loughnan and Ollivier was not a, brillia-ut one. The Opawa man did not have a great deal of difficulty in beating his man in th© whole Bet, but some of the games were keenly fought. Ollivier out-played I.ouglinan in court, craft, and he did things j with ease which the other man attempted to do with difficulty. For all that Ollivier's display was far from brilliant shots were missed, but. the wind was* bad. Loughnan took three games out of the set. ITis serving as a whole was fairly good. The game between Seay and Patterson was an interesting one. and for a time it. was very even. Both players were in good form and the first ten games were hard fought and productive of good tennip. Seay led off with the first game, and then the struggle began. Both men were driving extremely well, and not taking too many chances. At the""eleventh game tho score was 5 all. but, the game went to Sfeay, whq seemed to have worn b's opponent down. He wont ahead, playing good, accurate tennis, and did not lose another game. •A. Loughnan beat Harman by steadiness. He played a good accurate game, and never varied from beginning to end. Harman. however, was patchy and drove many a good shot, into the net. The wind was disconcerting at times, but it did not. interfere much with the play. Harman took the first, game, but, the next was N Loughnan’s. From then on play was fairly even for a time, but the Canterbury College man soon asserted himself. After leading at 8-4 he had a hard game in which deuce was called several times, but in the end he lost it. The next game was also a much-disputed one. but Loughnan secured the advantage with a fine corner shot and went out 9-5. The game between Clark and Robinson was the hardest fought on© in the match. Clark led off easi’y with some stinging shots which got him the first three games. Robinson then settled down to very steady teunis. and got several games after some hard playing. With the score 8-all Clark took th© serve, and with two tricky shots had the score at 40-15. Th© next shot. wri.6 also liis, and the set went- to him 9-8. The doubles between Ollivier and Patterson and Seay and Loughnan was an important one as far as the match was concerned, for in it. Opawa evened up .011 th© singles and gained a lead of five frame*. The Opawa. men were too experienced for their opponents, and beat them thoroughly on the court work. Their shots, were too fast and too accurate for return in most eases, hut. in spite of that there were wellcontested games which went in favour of the Varsity men. Opawa had the lead, however, from the start, and they took the set finally 9-3. The most important set was the doubles between A. Loughnan and Robinson and Clark and Harman. Canterbury X’ol lege required to make up six games in order to win the match. They started off with vigour and confidence. They made no mistakes and by steadiness and accuracy soon wore their opponents down. For the first few games play was fairly even, although the advantage, if any. was with Varsity. Th© score came up to 6 3 in favour of Varsity and then it was obvious that they had a. chance of taking the match. They settled down to fine tennis and their opponents were completely outplayed. Without effort they got the next three games and the set closed 9-3. This decided the match in favour ,of Canterbury College, and it. also placed them in the leading position in the competition.