LAWN TENNIS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 490, 24 April 1909, Page 12

LAWN TENNIS.

. , (BY iNXHt-CwnJ.) , : Tho senior ©vents in the Wellington chnm■v. pionships have now., been concluded, the two ■ events —th? combined and men's doubles— having; reached tho finals lato last week. ; Miss Batham and Fish'or played Miss Gray and Yocng on . the Thursday, and won tho ■championship— 6—<l. 2—6, 6—o/ Tbo'latter ! pair led, 4 —2, in thofirat sot, but faikd to : 'socure another,, game. i Thoy wore playing ■much better in tho second set, and Miss Gray was particularly ijood at tho not, often passing Fisher, which is indeed saying, «. lot, as ho is hard oven for a man to pass. JYoung also played well,' and they made, it : : *'set-all" with tho score 6—t2. In the final •••••:" set 1 Miss > Batham: garo i very fine exhibition 'of clover J'driving, ■ ■ which not only puzzled Miss Gray, but had Young at''set." lusher oko placed up, and, with clever Mort shots, moored repeatedly., Misu Batham has never ' played bettor, and it really was her set. By this win Miss Batham i and Fisher secured tho combined cliampioni hip. • . • The final of the men's doubles was played, ■ jrcit between Rioo. and Swanston l wid Peacock. players to mako ■' ft a fivo-sot match, but* it;was all over in Ibreo sets straight, Swaast<{n > and Peaoock played tamely, and did_ not show their ' usual dash. Brown and Rice woi© Ming • strongly from tho jum;?, and . Blight have done better had thoy been pushed, Ine play now and then was good, but, on the. •whole, considerably below what was : expected, particularly as fur as the losers arc conoorned. Tho Sydney, and . Wellington ■ players paired vory well,: and both hit' hard; 'iand•'accurately. • Thoy also lobbed wefc—in . fact,- flio lobs scorned to undo their op- . ponents. Rico' was steady, and Brown hit : ■ ont fearlessly. Peacock and Swanston looked ■ Eke taking tho third set during one stage, but went to pieces as a combination. Score, -. 6 —-4,..6 —0, 6 —4." Rioo.iis now singles and rikrablas champion of Wellington, v t . /Junior Championships.:--The. men's junior f singles': are in •an uridecided * stago-r-some . 'claim that Blundell has, won . by aofeating , Duncan in tho final, 9r-6,' which ho un--doubfedly ; did ' last Tuesday, ■:-but the committee (or some xtortion of. it) haa_do- ■ cided that the scratened; men bo allowed to play oS. ' Jones haß'accordingly',• defeated Duncan, and is now in the final on tho top Sialf, bnfc > (by some ,• arrangement) ,- has to tmeot Sheppard, who is in the semi-final of ybn loi»er»nalf, and' tho i winner plays Blundell. Tho latter' should moot. Shoppard ; if Ho draw is to bo followed corrcctly. ■ 1 ■' The above'event attracted 28 entries, and psmo good matches wore, contested. 1 Parkin- • 1 pon and-Duncan came through well, both - playing tennis—the datter. put his'mate pnfc in,tho third round. - Jones beat Clarke En,a. most decisive manner on. the grass, and " pas worked to the final. i .Slieppaid has ■. also played well, and his defcat oi Lewis by, 12, ■ jganrcss to 4 speaks 'for itself.. Dart ended : (jailor's chances, but, after taking' the first set from Lewis, lost tho next two, although |}io mado a strenuous bid for the,third. Blun- • !{JeH started against Wrigit, and was-almost,, (defeated; but ho" iraprovod as tho matches • "Storo on, and put out J. .A. B. Howe by 12 ■ 1 l games to 6. Howe was . looked upon as an, ■ >iilniost certain winner. .Blundell is a Carterton nlajor,. and it is hard to say when - finaTwD come' enon if bo swrald be Cgreeablra to play again'. _ I__ . doubles looked i gcod thing for wani pid Shoppard, and so it'jjrovod. Howden • pnd Wright, the Muritai pair, did well .to win bom such a strong combination as Jones and liowfe, and must .have caught them,on the hop. Yet the form'of tho ,winners was . good, pa, Cornell and Parkinson wero called upon to . play.- more 'than', thoir ■ best, to defeat: them. . • Howo and Dart all but lost to Blundell and IMatmsell in tho first.set,: : andappeared do- • feated . when the second.* sot wont against : / tbom. - Theai' the first pair seemod-to regain ■ ecmiidenoo, and won :a love set in .the ■iffliiid Ward and iSheppard, ;who won' bom them, also beat the other-Brougham Hill ' pair in the final easily, but tho losers had, on the same afternoon, played a long-match,

?—5, 7—9, B—6. against Cornell and Parkinson, and must havo been tired before they ibcgan iho final. ', ' Miss Ross, of tlie Hutt Club, won tho junior championship, but it was 1/onch-and-go when $k> mot Mrs. Qrady. The latter led, 6—l, end appeared to have the match won. But' I te match is never ovor until the last stroke is 'scored, , arid so it proved in this case, as Miss Boss, making every post a winning post, •crept up and passed her opponent, eventu,nlly winning tho semi-final, 9—7. Miss Wilson, snowed great improvement, and beat ■strong playors'in Misses Clark and Turton, fl—7 and 10—8 respectively. Miss Dimant wught hard against Miss Ross m the first iound, but could not hold her opponent, and lost 9—6. Miss Howard made it "sot all" with Mies Turton by winning the second set, {but the Thorndon player was superior in the set. Miss -Turton is steadily improving an her play, and -with ordinary lurk would 9mvo played off in the final. Mrs. Hawkins and Miss Penny, tho Petono J»ir, annexed tho ladies', doubles, and thoroughly deserved tho win. They won their matches in good stylo, and kept their form Arp to concert pitch. Tho defeat of Mrs. iGrady and Miss Clark by Misses Crombio and iCreasey was a surprise, but the play of tho jjattor pair was extremely good. Misses Howard and Dimant played well to tho final, only to meet a more expenenoed pair in the Petone ladies. In tho combined-event Miss* iDimant and Sheppard are through on the top half, and should just abont win. Four other pairs havo to play oft in the lower half, ,and if it is all gone through to-day, tho top /half pair - should secure the event easily. •Owing to the wet weather, and ttio~fact that most of the players left in events could not j>lay after tho Monday, considerable in'terost has been taken out of tho junior events; L ' ' Tho New Zealand ladies who havo gone to play at Sydnoy in tho teams' matches will v olso compete in tho New South Wales championships. They hnvo paired for the doubles xn tho same way a3 picked'by tho Selection Committoo, and ono of tho pairs should win tho ovont. Miss Travcrs is in great foriii,' and just before tho tenni left, sho beat Miss "Wollwood thrco s,ots stiaight, the latter not ■getting more than throe games in any of tho Only four players will compete against iio Victorian team, that is unless the Vic•tonan team ie increased toisix by sending on two extra ladies. Should victoria get its best -team to fsydney tho New Zenlanders will rc.quiro to bo at their very best to win. Tho 'team leaves Sydney on May 8 on its return--1 journey to Wellington.