BARTLEET BEATEN

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 105, 28 January 1935, Page 11

BARTLEET BEATEN

Auckland Champion No Match For Perry TENNIS TOURNAMENT France Goes Down to Kay, of Australia ROUSSELL-FERKINS MATCH (By Telegraph.—From “Forehand.”) Auckland, January 26. Good progress was made to-day in the several events of the New Zealand lawn tennis championship tournament. The attendance of spectators in the afternoon was large, the principal attractions from the Aucklanders’ point of-view being the singles matches, E. L. Bartleet, of Auckland, against F. J. Ferry, Wimbledon and United States champion, and Miss N. Beverley, of the Waikato, v. Miss Dulcie Nicholls, of Wellington. The day was fine and cloudy. . D. G. France, playing by far his nest game of this tournament, was not good enough against A. A. Kay, of Australia. For the whole of the first set and part of the second Kay played almost perfect tennis. Not only did France, during that period, not win a game; he never looked like winning one. Kay, who is a left-hander, stroked freely and easily, the ball going unerringly to the corner. His service also, besides carrying pace, was placed to give France the maximum of trouble. Even if France by chance put over a shot that looked as though it mighty be a winner, he usually found that Kay bad raced across court and sent up a perfect lob. France Below His Best Borin. Becovering from the surprise of Kay’s - rapid start, France drove more firmiy than he has been known to do for some time, and so numbers of interesting rallies ensued, with both players getting within inches of the sidelines. France frequently got the position hd wanted at the net, not to net the volley or hit out over the sideline. It was most disheartening. He- never ceased trying and fought up from trailing positions. But never could he get the game he wanted. Kay was particularly safe on his backhand, and he seldom sent back a weak return. There is no doubt that France is playing a long way below his best of previous seaones, and the general opinion is that his game is unrecognisable from the standard be displayed early in the season. His strokes lack their _old time speed and depth. Whereas Kay - went within inches of the backline, France too often hit only a little past the service line. ... Sturt Commences Brilliantly. ' On previous occasions when they have met D. Coombe, of Wellington, and N. G.' Sturt, of Auckland, have usually had a close light. When they started out today it appeared as though the usual practice would be broken and that Sturt would have a hollow victory. He started brilliantly and by absolutely perfect play from the baseline won the first ten games. Coombe was never in the hunt. He was outpaced on almost every point.* Then he found himself and by patient placing to the corners to keep Sturt running and only hitting for the winner when he had made the opening, he won points and games and had Sturt worried. Whereas before Coombe was netting almost everything, now he was getting the sidelines. Sturt, who before was not making any mistakes, now found himself netting bis low volleys. With the fact of his mistakes causing him to be less confident Sturt began to play more carefully and less aggressively, which entirely suited Coombe. who, after losing the first two sets, won the next two. Coombe Loses His Brilliance. 'in the fifth set Sturt once again played the type of game that won him his first ten games, and Coombe lost his accuracy. There is no doubt that Sturt’s brilliant patch in the first part of the match was the determining factor in the final result. Coombe never quite recovered from the suddenness of the attacks. The peculiar manner in which Sturt plays his forehand drive (that is, with his arm tucked in to his side) makes the ball keep low and short on hitting the ground. This, combined with accuracy of direction, made matters difficult for Coombe. Sturt also did well with his low volleys, while Coombe netted too many of his. The lobbing of both to drive the other from the net was excellent. Towards the end also Coombe netted easy volleys from winning positions. Long Four Set Struggle. E. A. Roussell and R. Ferkins, both of Wellington, had a long four-set struggle of careful play on the part of Roussell, ami harder hitting and forcing tactics by Ferkins. The steadiness of Roussell won. He played deep to the corners to keep Ferkins from the net and judged well hie time to go in io the net. When he went in if was usually to drive deep to Ferkins’s backhand corner, and then only when he saw that Ferkins could not run round to hit the ball on his forehand. Ferkins, too, devoted a great deal of attention to Rouseell’s backhand, but Roussell never looked like cracking there. Ferkins hit much harder throughout the match than Roussell, but, being prepared to take the risk, he had also to make more mistakes. Roussell had match point at 5-3 and 40-30 in the fourth set, and lost four. In the tenth game he lost a further three match points before winning the match, Ferkins missing a low volley. Bartleet’s Occasional Brilliance. Except for occasional flashes of. brilliance, E. L. Bartleet did not play at all well against Ferry, who had the crowd in good humour with his mannerisms. Bartleet pursued the tactics of following his service to the net, but Perry was not troubled. For the most part he won as he liked, and it was merely a question of how many games he was prepared to allow Bartlett m each set. ’ When he needed the point Ferry played many dazzling drives cross court to the corners, or straight down the line, the ball landing within inches of the backline. If he did not specially want the point, then he did not much worry whether he won or lost it. How Dominion’s Tennis Compares. He scarcely went to the net at all to volley, being content to play from the backline to keep' Bartleet running. ft was but another instance of the tremendous difference there can be between New Zealand’s present best and the best from abroad. There is no doubt that if Perry set himself to it he could beat almost any player in New Zealand in straight sets, and without the loss of a game. Those who expected to see a close and hard struggle between Miss N. Beverley and Miss D. Nicholls were doomed to disappointment. Miss Beverley played right into Miss Nicholls’s hands, and never gave herself a chance. She elected fo play almost entirely from the backline, and drive from corner to corner. That is just what Miss Nicholls likes, and her driving was harder and more accurate. Miss Nicholls Shows Confidence. At her best Miss Beverley is a brilliant net player. For some unaccountable reason when she did elect to go to the net it was often on a ball too short, and she