CHAMPIONS TOURNEY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 85, 12 April 1937, Page 15

CHAMPIONS TOURNEY

WIN FOR ROUSSELL

LOBS AND DROP-SHOTS

I Spectacular lobs of a standard un- | equalled in Wellington tennis or in the New Zealand championships this year, together with rock-like steadiness. in drop-shots and drives, carried E. A. Roussell, New Zealand doubles champion, to victory-yesterday against N. Edwards, New Zealand Plate winner, M. Ferkins, Wairarapa champion, R. McL. Ferkins, also . New Zealand doubles champion, and S. Painter, New Zealand junior champion, Roussell winning the men's champion of champions tournament with the loss of only one set, to Painter. Mrs. H. 'M. Dykes, formerly . New Zealand women's singles champion, won the ladies' tournament,: defeating the. very .promising young Karori Club champion, Miss L. Akel, in the final. Miss Akel created a major upset, defeating the Nunnelley Casket representatives, Miss J. Douthett and Miss J. Forrester, New Zealand junior champion. On Saturday afternoon Mrs. Dykes had accounted for Mrs. A. D. Latham. D. G. France, holder.of the men's title, who had been suffering from a* severe cold, went down in straight sets to Edwards. The biggest surprise of the whole tournament was the straight-set victory in the second round of M. Ferkins over N. F. N. Bedford* -runner-up in the New Zealand singles championship.. The tournament, for which this season's provincial, club, and tournament champions were eligible, was favoured with perfect: weather, both on Saturday afternoon and yesterday. The complete absence of wind aided Roussell's phenomenal lobbing. The grass surface was in excellent condition,, springy yet very fast. The. absence of seeding* all of; the players nominally, having equal status, resulted in-a number of matches, of- very,, high -standard being fought, out in the early-rounds. This tournament, and the inter-club finals, complete the lawn tennis season for 1936-37. v ■."". '•:. ':-..- . The-men's final resolved itself into j a battle of tactics, Roussell concentrating on-breaking up Edwards's harddriving game, and keeping", him , from the net. To do, this he employed "patball" tactics, interspersed with a devastating passing shot or lob.1 Painter was the only player who could; match Roussell, in steadiness ;■ during longdriving rallies. -The winner succeeded well, in.these '-tactics ■ against Edwards, who -.in" his endeavour' to force, the pace in "driving high-bouncing balls, generally ended the rally by driving over the back line. Edwards might have won more points by forcing~the issue, at the net, but although he made a number of brilliant volley placements, Roussell's .lobbing generally had him racing to the back line again. Although they are two of the most outstanding smashers in New Zealand, neither R. McL. Ferkins nor Edwards were able to kill Roussell's high shots, both going dpwn in straight sets. Edwards made a number of fine drives into Roussell's backhand corner. Roussell led at 4-1. and 5-4 in the first set. Edwards led at 3-1 and 4-2 in the second, but lost a crucial game owing, to worrying about foot-faulting. Both players were foot-faulted several times,-, and their serving, partly, owing to their fear of continuing to foot-fault, was well below the standard of the rest of their game. ■ WOMEN'S FINAL. ,/ Miss L. Akel. the promising young Karori Club champion, who with her sister,-Miss M. Akel; won the Easter B grade, women's doubles on Saturday afternoon, made a very valiant fight of.the women's final, against Mrs. H M Dykes,. formerly New Zealand, women's champion. Mrs. Dykes showed a fine appreciation of tactics; varying the placement, pace, and spin of her drives, and endeavouring to play Miss Akel out of position. Miss Akel, however, fought with'great vigilance and concentration, and, on a number of occasions placed her fast.drives,well beyond. Mrs. Dykes's reach. Miss Akel s backhand was generally defensive, but her forehand drive, made with a, fine free swing, sped the ball with, considerable pace to the corners. Her volleying, when)she did go to the net, was weir executed, but iwould be further improved with more practice. She. let nothing retrievable go by default, but on occasions got bustled and lapsed into errors. When leading, 40-loye. in a game at 4-5, for instance, shf unluckily lost five points in a row.. Although the match was fought mainly -from the baseline, Mrs. Dykes^howed a. mastery both of rear-court play and of net ataMi'ss Akel drove on both forehand and backhand with exceptional consistency against Miss J.. Douthett in the semi-final. Miss Douthett was not playing with her usual speed and accuracy? and in the third set to be wearied by the heat. Her forehand drive frequently got no lurinei than the top of the net. PAINTER PLAYS WELL. S Painter, New Zealand junior champion, extended Roussell to three sets in the second round, Roussell winning 6-3, 5*7, 6-3. Painter played exceptionally well, his driving being of :a. particularly high standard. He also showed considerable improvement in his volleying. . Neither Painter nor Roussell were strong, however; in their serving. Drop-shots, followed by outstanding lobs, enabled Roussell to beat R. McL. Ferkins, 6-3, 6-2. In rally after rally, Ferkins had to come to the net to chase a drop shot, only to find, the ball lobbed back over his head, near the. baseline. The strong sun made smashing from one end very difficult. Ferkins led at 3-2 in the first set and 2-1 in the second on his excellent volleying and driving, but could not sustain the pace. J. Charters opened very strongly against Edwards in the men's . semi -final, taking the-first set -6-4.-. His fast lefthanded forehand drive into Edwards's backhand corner kept Edwards at the baseline ; and enabled Charters to kill many returns at the net. Charters was not, however, able to sustain. the pace, and lost the two subsequent sets, 6-3. 6-3. '

M. Ferkins's very fast top-spin forehand drive frequently caused Roussell difficulty in the other semi-final. /' The ball rose with considerable speed from the hard dry turf, and when pitched in the corners, frequently sped out of Roussell's reach. Ferkins's backhandalso carried spin and broke well. He was not sufficiently strong in volleying, however,-.to counter his opponent's lobs.

. Mrs. Dykes proved too strong in her driving, both for Miss J. Bedford and for Mrs. A. D. Latham, although Mrs. Latham's match-was very closely contested.

Trophies were presented by the deputy chairman of the W.L.T.A. management committee, Mr. A. M. Pinkerton, who thanked the Umpires' Association and Mr. A. C. W. Mantell-Hard-ing for their work in-connection with the tournament. Among those present was the founder of the tournament, Mr. S. Fernandez. ~ , Results are as follows:— MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP. First Round.—E. A. Roussell (Wellington) beat C. Webster (Technical), 6-1, 6-1; E. G. Hughes (Eastern Hutt) beat E. Tilyard (Island Bay), 6-3, 8-6; N. V. Edwards (Newtown) beat H. Nightingale (Karori United), 6-1, 6-3; J. C. Charters' (Muritai) beat G. A. Pearce (Petone), 9-7, 7-5; N. F. N. Bedford (Seatoun) beat C. McCormack (Burnside), 6-1, 6-2; F. S. Ramson (Lower Hutt) beat .D. G. Kelly (Khandallah), 6-2.' 3-6, 6-2; C. Mclntyre (Karori) beat A. Hunger (Rawhiti), 10-8, 3-6, 6-1; M. Ferkins beat F. Renouf I (South Island junior), 6-0, 3-6, 6-4; J. Milson* (Te Rama) beat A. Barrett fNgaio), 4-6, .7-5, 9-7; D. Purves (Nelpon) beat J. Hamilton (Ngahoa), 6-1,

Second Round.—W. Smith beat P. Sowden, 6-3, 9-7; J. Charters beat C. Mclntyre, 6-3, 6-2; N. Edwards beat D. Purves, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1; D. France beat F. S. Ramson, 6-3, 6-1: E. G. Hughes beat J. M. Jeffs, 5-1, 0-2; M. Ferkins beat

(n, F. N. Bedford, 8-6, 6-4; E. A. Roussell beat S. .Painter, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3; R. Ferkins beat J. Milsom, 6-0, 6-0. .. ." Quarter-finals.—J". Charters . beat W. I Smith, 6-3, 6-1; N. Edwards beat D. France, 6-1, 6-4; M. Ferkins beat E. G. Hughes, 6-3, 6-2; E. A. Roussell beat R. Ferkins, 6-3, 6-2. . ~. Semi-finals.—N. Edwards beat J. Charters, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; E. A. Roussell beat M. Ferkins, 6-3, 7-5. ■> Final.—E. A. Roussell beat N. Edwards, 6-3, 6-4. • :'■ WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP. First Round—Miss J. Bedford (South Wairarapa) beat Mrs. B. loop (Island Bay), 6-4, 6-1; . Mrs. A. D. Latham (Thorndon) beat Mrs. R. Haley (Technical), 6-1, 6-2; Mrs. H. M. Dykes (Sea--toun) beat Miss C. Norns iD.I.C), 6-0, 6-1; Miss L. Akel (Karori) beat Miss J; Forrester (Wimbledon), 6-4, 6-4; Miss N. Knox (Ngahoa) won by default; I Miss J. Douthett ' (Wellington Easter) jbeat Mrs. Gordon (Rawhiti), 6-2, 6-0; Miss-N. Davidson (Hutt) beat Miss N. Donovan (Karori United), 6-1, 6-4. :

Second ' Round.—Miss L. Akel beat Miss N. Knox,' 6-1, 6-4; Miss J. Bedford beat Mrs. A. Latta, by : default; Mrs. H. M. Dykes beat Mrs. A. D. Latham, 7-5, 6-4; Miss J. Douthett beat Mrs. Davidson. 6-1, 6-2. . . ■ ■•■

Semi-finals.—Mrs. H.- M. Dykes: beat Miss J. Bedford, 6-1, 6-2: Miss L. Akel beat Miss J. Douthett, 6-8. 6-3, 6-3. Final.—Mrs. H. M. Dyke's beat Miss L. Akel, 6-4, 6-3. ; ,