Tennis

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 51, 9 February 1949, Page 5

Tennis

Bay Of Plenty Loses To Waikato On Sunday the strong 1 Vaikato team easily defeated the Pay of Plenty representative tennis team by 15 matches to 3 at'Rotorua. None of the combined doubles were completed because of rain interfering in the latter stages of the contest. Although Waikato won most of the matches, they were well contested and very thrilling tennis was witnessed by the large crowd of spectators. The three Whakatane men, I. Wylds and R. and M. Lees were all drawn to play one of the three Roach brothers and all did well, especially M. Lees, who took his opponent Lou Roach to three sets. Joe Roach, who played I. Wylds, played brilliant tennis to win comfortably, his ability to change directions suddenly with his forehand and his famous backhand being the decisive factor?. Wylds, although hitting cleanly was unable to find a good length and Roach made no bones about killing the short returns. R. Lees and Leo Roach had long backline duels, but Roach’s net attack clinched most rallies to give him a clear-cut win. The other Whakatane player, Miss M. Hall, was outclassed by a free-hitting opponent, Miss M. Muir, who made very few mistakes. Although rain the previous night improved the surface of the court it was very slippery and players had difficulty in moving about quickly.