Australian Tennis Group Led By Roche

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31079, 7 June 1966, Page 19

Australian Tennis Group Led By Roche

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) PARIS. A limping A. Roche leads Australia’s tennis army invading the courts of Britain yesterday after rescuing his country’s slumping reputation on the brick-red hard courts of Paris.

Where Miss M. Smith, R. Emerson and F. Stolle faltered, casting doubts on their world rankings, Roche, with a damaged ankle deadened by drugs, swept through I. Gulyas in the men’s singles final to add the French crown to the Italian title he won three weeks ago.

Roche won, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5, with the effect of the pain killing drug in the left ankle wearing off and his overworked right leg starting to cramp. He had outclassed Gulyas in every department of the game, but if the Hungarian had been able to force the game into a fourth set he almost certainly would have won. Roche today will probably withdraw from the men’s singles of the Kent international tournament at Beckenham, where he is seeded eighth, to rest his damaged left ankle.

But he will probably play in the doubles to get the feel of the grass after playing so long on hard courts.

Roche is the rapidly rising star of the tennis world. He already holds the Wimbledon doubles title with J. Newcombe, of AustraliaBig Crowd

The French final was before a near-capacity crowd at the Stade Roland Garros. The 21-year-old Australian showed no signs of his ankle injury in the first two sets, but in the third he seemed to slow down considerably. Roche thrilled the crowd with his tremendous services and backhand volleys. The crowd sensed that if the young Australian was to win this match he had to win it quickly. He had started in a whirlwind of fury but by the third set his game had slowed considerably and every minute seemed to tick closer to a Hungarian victory. Roche had raced to 6-1, cruised to 64, and now he was plodding to 5-all and finding it difficult to hold service. The injection seemed to be wearing off. But the Australian stuck to his task to win the title against odds. It was a commendable effort for someone who 24 hours before was expected not to be able to play. Slowed Game

Earlier Mrs A. Haydon Jones, of Britain, played a slow game to wear down Miss N. Richey, of the United States in the women’s singles final.

Mrs Jones, aged 27, recaptured the title she first won five years ago, with a 6-3, 6-1 victory in one hour 20 minutes. The British woman’s defence was virtually impregnable.

Mrs Jones was seeded third for the title and Miss Richey, conqueror of top-seeded Miss M. Smith, of Australia, was the fifth seed. Emerson the Wimbledon and Australian champion, Stolle, the three times Wimbledon finalist who lost his French crown early in the championships last week, and

the women’s Wimbledon and Australian champion, Miss Smith, all showed less than top form.

Emerson did not look sharp, and talked about not playing the world circuit next year. Stolle’s form was patchy and he did not look the same player who dominated the courts last year. Miss Smith, returning to tennis after a rest with a damaged wrist, seemed in no trouble in wielding the racquet, but looked out of condition.

These three, and M. Santana, of Spain, also recovering from injury, have only

two weeks to re-establish their form before Wimbledon opens.

Miss L. Turner is absent ill, and the rest of the Australian girls have done little to impress as possible champions.

The main threat will probably come again from the three-times winner, Miss M. Bueno, of Brazil. Mrs A. Haydon Jones, of Britain, who yesterday beat the American, Miss N. Richey, 6-3, 6-1, to win the French title after already holding the Italian title, is the only British girl likely to be seeded for Wimbledon.