OVER THE NET

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 855, 26 December 1929, Page 13

OVER THE NET

Auckland Championship Titles With the exception of M. L. Lampe, of Wanganui, who holds the doubles title along with N. G. Sturt, all the other holders are defending their titles this week. The association courts at Stanley Street are not as fast as previous years, due to the wet weather and to the fact that they are more completely covered with grass than in the past. These conditions will be welcomed by players who become footsore after a succession of gruelling matches on hard courts. Men’s Singles

In the men’s singles A. C. Stedman will meet strong opposition in the third round, as no doubt Morrison will be liis opponent. Sturt, who is in the same half of the draw as Stedman, should reach the semi-final, but he will have to be on his game to beat Watkins and Entwistle, who are almost certain to be his opponents in the second and third rounds respectively. The semi-final in the top half will most likely be played by Stedman and Sturt, and. this will be one of the most interesting matches of the tournament. Both players are clean, hard hitters and the tennis should be very spectacular. E. L. Bartleet, the present holder, will not be able to take chances against Pickmere, ’Whangarei, and A. S. Lamb, the Parnell champion, whom he will probably meet in the second and third rounds respectively. In the last quarter E. W. Griffiths has the best chance of reaching the semifinal, although Charters, V. R. Johns and Hubble are a good lot and are all capable of offering serious opposition.

Unless the unexpected happens Sturt and Stedman will meet in one semi-final and Bartleet and Griffiths in the other. Stedman has a slight advantage over Sturt and Bartleet should beat Griffiths. The final, if played between Stedman and Bartleet, will be an open contest. Women’s Singles

Miss Macfarlane should retain her title although Misses Knight and Ramsay and Mrs. Melody are all capable of extending her, and she will have to produce her best tennis to hold the championship. Men’s Doubles This is a very open event. On paper Stedman and Sturt appear to be the strongest combination, but the following pairs have a very good chance of proving to be the ultimate winners:—A. C. Johns and Morrison, Bartleet and Watkins, Griffiths and Clark, Hubble and Nicholson. Women’s Doubles The present holders, Mesdames Arneil and Melody, will be hard put to it to retain their title. Their most dangerous opponents will be Misses Macfarlane and Knight and Whitelaw and Miller.

Mixed Doubles A. C. Johns and Miss P. Miller will need to play brilliantly’ to stave off the strong combinations of Stedman and Mrs. Melody’, V. R. Johns and Miss Knight, Morrison and Miss Ramsay’, and Macfarlane and Miss Macfarlane. These pairs are evenly matched, and the winners are hard to pick. Junior Events It is very gratifying to see the increased number of entries for these events and the association’s efforts to foster the game in this direction are certainly bearing fruit. There are 30 entries for the boys’ singles, under 21, and this constitutes a record entry.

University v. Parnell The A grade inter-club between University and Parnell provided an exciting struggle and the result was in issue right up to the last match. As was expected the L’niversity men

won most of their matches, but the Parnell ladies evened matters by having a substantial majority of wins in their games. Lamb did well to take a set oft Stedman, who is playing very confidently at the present time. Nicholson, although not impressive, is a most deceptive player and Chalmers found him Car too steady. Nicholson is one of the fastest men in Auckland at the net. and if his ground shots were more severe would go a long way in any tournament .

Entwistle was too good for Boardman. The former is very keen and has worked hard with his tennis. ITe requires to improve his second service Jind if he could overcome this weakness in his game he would become a much more dangerous opponent. Miss Potter’s match experience pavo her the advantage over Miss Roberton, University’s first woman player. Miss Roberton has excellent shots, but has not yet acquired sufficient courtcraft to enable her to use them to tho best advantage. Turner and Hubble had a comfortable win in the doubles against Williams and Stallwortliy. The former are an old combination and it is a treat to see the energetic way they move about the court. As usual, Williams was good in the air, but his ground shots were not strong enough to beat the other pair, who crowded the net at every opportunity. Clay and Stevens registered a win for Parnell by defeating Hardy and Macdonald. Clay is playing a very steady game this season and has shown improvement on last year’s form.

Chalmers and Coates are always hard to beat in doubles and their better combination and courtcraft won another match for Parnell against Entwistle and Chisholm. * « * Ladder Matches V. R. Johns seems to have lost his form this year. At the end of last season he held third place on the ladder. The ranking committee placed him sixth this year, and he has lost three successive challenges. If ho can reproduce his old form he will soon better his position again. By defeating Johns this week Entwistle. moves up to ninth position. H. Brinsden sustained a challenge by S. Lamb, winning the match, 6—2, 6—l. Brinsden will be missed at the Auckland championships. Had he been a competitor he would certainly have figured prominently in all events. With his old-time partner, Griffiths, they would have had a great chance of regaining the doubles championship held by them on several occasions. Miss Macfarlane had a proper marathon with Miss Ramsay, who challenged for first place on the women’s ladder. This is indicated by the scores, which were B—lo, 6—4, (i —3, in Miss Macfarlane's favour. Miss Ramsay played with exceptional steadiness and hardly ever failed to return a shot within her reach. Jt was only the extra pace in Miss Macfarlane’s drives toward the end of the match which enabled her to win. • m * Ngataringa v. Vauxhal l As was expected, the match which ended so unsatisfactorily between Ngataringa and Vauxhall was replayed. It is pleasing to hear that, the dispute which arose over the playing of the last game in the first match between these clubs was settled amicably and that any misunderstandings which may have existed between them have been completely cleared up. These clubs appear to be very evenly matched and once more the result depended on the last match. This was won by Misses Dance and Wyatt (Ngataringa), who defeated Aliases Wallace and Alison (Vauxhall), after an exciting contest, the scores being 6—5, 5—4.