LAWN TENNIS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1599, 16 November 1912, Page 12

LAWN TENNIS.

\ • \ ' [Br 'Fooxfadlt."] Davis Cup, Challenge Round, British' Isles v. Australasia.—Melbourne, November. 28, 29, 30, 1912. . New Zealand Championships.—Hastings, .' Dec-ember .26,. 27, 28, 1912. Australasian Championships.—Hastings, . ■ Decejnbsr 30 and 31, 1912; January 1, ' : 1913. Hastings Club Championships and Han'.dicaps—Hastings, follows. Australasian championships., : iPahiatua Club Championships and Han- • dicaps.—Pahiatua; January 1 and.' 2, '1913. ; The weather proved very favourable for tennis on Saturday last, and the interclub competitions were commenced, .'fhe number of matches played were : few, on account of the scarcity.,of courts. Matches in town start at 1.45, and at Day's Bay and the suburbs at 2.15, and. competitors aro requested, to' observe punctuality. ■Last season, through' delay m. starting, 'some' Of the matches had ; to be finished in comparative-darkness.. Men's. Competitions. ■ '■ The match between Wellington and Brougham Hill was productive of some good play, the latter^am, being victorious by four rubbers to two, a very creditable win. J.'Hunter, for Brougham Hill, succumbed to'H.:: Brown, though, he, made a better stand < than the saore .indicates,. Jeffreys, for Wellington, played Wme pretty tennis, and made av,good stand afeainst H. V. Howe, nearly pulling off a set, but the Broughwn Hill player, was too steady. , ;•> ', i' i -. .. ' . F. Eller, who -h-fS, always (bean looked upon as abPromisine,p}ftyer>.jPnt.up B remarkably good performance-, m'defeating J. A. B. Howe after the "latter player •had won tho first set. - -, • "S. Roberts, Brougham Hill, signalised his. first appearance inshield tennis l>y defeating Stranger in' two sets straight. The latter played possesses;an extremely good service, but on tho day's, play was otherwise not so good. • \ . ' Junior Grade. Brougham Hill had a fairly, easy victory ■ over Karori, winning by a good margin of sets and games. For the. losing side K. Henderson' played welL-win-ning-from Veen in -a three-set go,'though Veen.had rather a nasty tumble, which' somewhat put him off his game. Brougham Hill has a strong team, and should render a good, account of itself.'; Victoria College B and Johnsonville had a., fairly .even contest,'- most of. the* sets being 'decided .by the bare margin of games.' Three of the matohes ran into' three sets. Ladies' Competition. Wellington A has a very strong team in the field, and defeated Victoria College without the loss of a rubber—in fact, losing only two sets; one of which was won by Miss Van Staveren against Miss Travers. The former played stood her. ground in the .first set ' but was quite out-classed iii the second: Miss Tennant did well to take a set from Mrs. Goldie, playing well all through the. match; ; Newtown proved too strong for Welling-, ton.' 8.-: For the'losing team Mrs. Grady and' Mrs. Webb:played well. The latter team was somewhat, weaker than at firstexpected, as .it*.was rumoured that. Mrs, Pernio .was to;play, first lady. It. must havfe been a rumour indeed, as one hardly expects to. see an .ex-champion playing in the second team.'. ' .'. Brougham Hill drew 0 a bye. Its team, consisting of Misses. . Davis, , Morgan, Archer, and Mrs. W. E. Howe, is a fairly strong one, and' should. hold its own against all save Wellington. Miss; Davis, having won the club championship, has been promoted to the head of the' team.. By the way, there is an apology due' to her, as it was incorrectly printed in the annual report that the championship was won by Miss Morgan. Brougham Hill is losing no time' in getting- off its- handicaps. -At the time of writing two of tlie most noticeable wins were Butcher and, G. Reeves over Messrs. Roberts and Hurley, and Misses Tingey and Bowleys pver Miss Archer aud Mrs. W. E. Howe. Davis Cup. ' ; , "Austral" has'some interesting remarks on tho form shown by the Davis Cup competitors. "For somo weeks," he says, BroiJkes and' Alf. Dunlop have been in splendid form, the latter superlatively so, and more than occasional were the sets he captured from tho champion. Then came a practice match, with Norman out to win tho best of five sets, and lie got his three straight away. ' Alf.' having tc be content with as many games, although Dunlop has probably , never before been in such good trim. Australasia, need not worry about the singles form of these two players. Their'double'combination of late is beyond criticism. Up to tho end ■ of last week the form' and condition of ■ Rod Heath was such as to cause liead- : quarters some uneasiness. But on Wednesday last, in rather sultry heat, he pushed Brookes to 'vantage sets. On Thursday, against A. Campbell, who always extends him, after losing a 'vantage set, he played with confidence and ease, : and won the next two sets 6—4, o—2, tin. ishing up the aftefnoon by beating I.ycett ■ 6-0. Heath has got his drive "well oiled," and good off tho ground as Lycettis, he had no hope of success. The same afternoon Brookes ; and Dunlop fnished •up two sets all,-after a strenuous game. On Friday Heath played Campbell once more, and though the latter led at 4—o- - s—l in the first set, and in no wise slacked up, Heath settled down to ortsscourt comer-driving, varied with accurate block volleying on his back hand, and had his opponent counted out B—o, 5—2, 6—2, 6—2. These items are most encouraging. The Englishmen, though apparently not doing any strenuous practice play so far, are so unobtrusively excellent that "even money chance" is tho current phrase among tennis folk, and the return to form and condition of Rod Heath is very welcome. Playing ngainst Brookes, Campbell's average is two games in a set, and that for an Inter-State champion. The visiting Englishmen have been made honorary life members .of the _NJ.W. Association.