CHAMPIONS AT TENNIS

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 4, 6 January 1936, Page 12

CHAMPIONS AT TENNIS

NATIONAL MEETING ENDS

SOME KEEN PLAY

Bright sunshine but with a cold southerly wind marked the final day o£ the New Zealand lawn tennis championships at Miramar on Saturday.

The final of the men's singles between V. McGrath (Australia) and E. D. Andrews (England and New Zealand) produced some terrific hitting and dramatic moments. Andrews started with a tremendous rush and took the first five games against an opponent who was virtually powerless to hold him. McGrath steadied down after that and fought back so hard that Andrews, the initial impetus of his run exhausted, lost the next five games and then just ran out in the set by dint of a tremendous attack. The second set was a long and arduous one, with McGrath serving his way into a lead in every odd game and Andrews desperately chasing the chance to equalise. But the consistent pressure of the Australian and the strain of playing from/a lower score told at last and Andrews, who had never done better than be a point ahead of his adversary, faded before the soundness of his rival's game. MISSED SET-POINT. The third set was very much a repetition of the second. McGrath opened service and still managed to win the majority of his service games without being pushed to do it. but in the vital ninth game McGrath failed to hold delivery against a shattering attack by Andrews and the New Zealander rushed ahead on service to be 5-4 and 40-30 and to hold a chance of the set. He drew a short return, closed in on the net, and then mistimed a short, hard, forehand slam, hitting the netband. It was as close to match as he was to get, for McGrath, playing long sweeping drives' to both sidelines, moved through the set with mechanical precision and took it at 7-5. With the score two sets to one, Andrews's task was hopeless. Even after the interval he did not reveal signs of having recovered from the terrific strain of those long early sets when he had rained fierce drives on McGrath's court and had the Australian scurrying from sideline to sideline, and the final set went to McGrath to love. BETTER DEFENCE. It was a win, not for superior tennis, but for superior defence. Andrews forced the pace, usually held the initiative, and thus made the more mistakes; McGrath's game was tighter and more true. It was, in fact, the triumph of control over speed, but the speed was allied to enough accuracy for Andrews to have taken the match had he held just a little more physical fitness and not been forced to expend his energy with prodigality to win a first set which was already won, and which then almost drifted away from him because of his slackened offensive. The pace of the game was often tremendous, and it was only, natural that netadvances should be speculative, so neither player shone at the net, McGrath making many errors there and being passed just as frequently as not. WOMEN'S SINGLES. In the women's singles final Miss D. Nicholls (Wellington), won her fourth singles title and her third in the last three years when she defeated Miss N. Beverley (Waikato). It was the first time that Miss Nicholls has had to meet serious danger from a compatriot in the women's final in recent years, and she was in very serious danger indeed, Miss Beverley winning the first

set and leading 4-1 in the second. The Waikato player opened by striking beautiful form, nlacing deep drives in the corners, timing her shots splendidly and having Miss Nicholls completely on the defensive. At times Miss Beverley came to the net and scored with nice volleys, but usually she came in only to finish off the point; her main attack, and her success, was by the excellence of her driving off both sides of: the racket. Miss Nicholls settled down solidly in the middle of the second set and at this particular moment the crowd from the men's singles court near by began to drift about the women's court. This appeared to upset Miss Beverley, who lost the set without winning another game and was just outmanoeuvred in the third in which she was again playing well, though not as brilliantly, and in which the great solidity of Miss Nicholls's game was manifesting itself. A SUPERIOR PAIR. D. G. France (Wellington) and N. A. Sturt (Auckland) were completely in command of their match against V. McGrath (Australia) and I. A. Seay (Canterbury) in the final of the men's doubles, winning in -straight sets against a pair which never really had a chance of taking the offensive though they led 4-2 in the second set and had the odd game after eleven games had been played. The weakness was Seay's service, which was finally lost with great regularity, and though France and Sturt were still revealing the uncertainty in combination which had manifested itself in the semi-final, France endeavouring to cover the backcourt behind Sturt even when he was running in on service, the losers were unable to exploit this weakness, and the sound volleying of France and Sturt turned the scale. The losers had changed their formation, and Seay was back again in the left court, and they did not combine as well there as previously, centre-court always being. a weakness. In addition, defective racket-work played an important role in turning the scale, McGrath missing a "sitter" at set-point against him in the second set and being trapped time after time to face a whole series of match-points in the third set. Seay was playing well* when at net and the fact that neither France nor Sturt was closing in on the net made the first two sets hard fought, but after these had been w,on the victors played with great confidence and ripped off the final games at high speed. Leading 5-2, they had McGrath down 0-40 on service, and in this game, in all, had five match-points which McGrath and Seay won. With France serving against the wind, however, the opportunity arose again and this time it was taken without hesitation, France and Sturt proving worthy winners. CHAMPIONS PUSHED. In the semi-final of the mixed doubles, the match between E.Roussell (Wellington)— Miss I. Poole (Canterbury), and E. F. Moon (Australia)— Miss D. Nicholls (Wellington) proved a much better contest than the final. The opening set was won by Roussell and Miss Poole, who showed the better form and were constant in their attack. Roussell was deadly at the net and Miss Poole, besides volleying usefully, was covering the baseline well. In the second set the greater speed of the winners began to tell, though Roussell and Miss Poole pulled up after being down early in the set, and finally Roussell began to lose service and the shrewd mixture of lobs, volleys, and stinging drives by Moon and Miss Nicholls opened the way to match. The final was a tame event, D. C. Coombe (Wellington) and Miss N. Beverley (Waikato), who had fainted after the conclusion of the women's singles final, being unable to stem the advance of Moon and Miss Nicholls towards match-point, the whole thing being over in twenty minutes. The winners were comfortably in command of virtually every game. THE WILDING CUP. The Wilding Cup, awarded to the association which wins the largest number of events at the meeting, was retained by Wellington, with 7 points

to Waikalo's 2 and Auckland's 1. The points won were as follows: — Wj!tn. Waiknto.. Aiick. Women's shiKlcs . :s — Men's doubles ..I — 1 Women's doubles I ■ 1 Mixed doubles . 1 — Hoys' siiißles ..I — — Girls' singles .. — 1 — RESULTS. The following were the results: — \ Men's Singles. Final. V. B. McGrath (Australia) beat E. D. Andrews (England), 5-7, 10-8, 7-5, 6-0. Men's Doubles. Final. D. G. France (Wellington) and N. G. Sturt (Auckland) beat V. B. McGrath (Australia) and LA. Seay (Canterbury), 6-4, 8-6, 6-3. Women's Singles. Final. Miss D. Nicholls (Wellington) beat Miss N. Beverley (Waikato), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Mixed Doubles. Semi-Final. E. F. Moon (Australia) and Miss'D. Nicholls (Wellington) beat E. A. Roussell and Miss I. Foole (Canterbury), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Final. E. F. Moon (Australia) and Miss D. Nicholls (Wellington) beat D. C. Coombe (Wellington) and Miss N. Beverley (Waikato), 6-0, 6-2. Men's Plate. Final. ' ■... '>' -, E. A. Roussell (Wellington) beat It M. Ferkins (Wellington), 6-2, 6-0.