view raw text
t ♦ , — " — — — -o ■ United States Tennis Queens Sweep Wightman Cup Matches * * f • J i j f i t ] i " s a s r r j i i c c ] 6 a I c t t s c i c g q g t e a I y o t t h 1 b o t I t a t t s a r p c F 1« 1» t: a h ■ p n ft s g Deal British 7-4 Shutout ♦ t To Retain Coveted Trophy; Hold 20 to 4 Series Edge By ROBERT MUSEL United Press Sports Writer WIMBLEDON, England, June 14. — Sweeping through four straight-set vie-[ tories with relentless determination, Amer-j icas tennis queens completed a 7-0 victory today to win the Wightman Cup from Britain for the twentieth time. The U. S. lost only one set in the seven matches. This was the fifth shutout of the seven postwar meetings. The British have won only four times — most recently in 1930, before the present Yank team was out of pigtails. The British have won only four times since the series was inaugurated in 1923. Doris Hart, the slender Wimbledon champion, clinched the cup in todays first match with a 7-5, 6-2 conquest of Jean Walker-Smith, since the U. S. had piled up 3-0 lead yesterday in the best-of-seven series. The remainder of todays matches were mere exhibitions, but the Americans did not let that deter their ferocious attack. • Maureen Connolly, the 17-year-old San . Diego, Calif., American champion, who I next week goes after the prized Wimble- . don crown, smashed Jean Quertier Rinkel, 9-7, 6-2; Shirley Fry of Akron, Ohio, downed Susan Partridge, 6-0, 8-6, and Louise Brough of Beverly Hills, Calif., and ■ Miss Connoylly finished the sweep with a r 6-0, 6-3 doubles victory over Joy Mottram * and Patricia Ward. Tactics Almost Succeed i Mrs. Walker-Smith, who scored Britains only victory last year, and who also cap- * tured the set from "Little Mo" yesterday, ■ by forcing her into a long game where her « a speed afoot gave her an edge, almost sue- . ceeded with the same tactics against the veteran Miss Hart in the payoff match today. But when she found herself behind in games, 3-4, the more experienced Miss Hart quickly switched to a chop and placement game that ran the Briton into the ground. Little Maureen, who dropped a set yesterday to Mrs. Walker-Smith largely I nervousness, had a stormy opening set against the powerful Mrs. Rinkel, only Briton to win a Wightman Cup match last year. But the British girl threw way the " opportunities given her by Little Mo to take the first set. 8 The crisis point of the first set came in * the fourteenth game when Little Mo — be- * hind six to seven — cracked through with a » love game on her own service and promptly broke through Mrs. Rinkels service for another love game. Until that point, many of ■ the spectators had questioned whether ■ to Little Mos play has justified her big repu- ■ tation. There was no doubt from then on. Mrs. Rinkel barely saw the ball as Little | Mo rocketed it across court in that sixteenth game and the American girl con- .. D. tinued right on through the second set, smashing along the sidelines and daringly aiming for the far corner in a sizzling style -rarely if ever before achieved by a woman player in this birthplace of lawn tennis / competition. The British rout continued when Miss Fry beat Miss Partridge, 6-10, 8-6 in the t last of the singles. Anxious to avenge her t last years Wightman Cup defeat, Miss Fry b tied up the first set in only nine minutes e and was leading 4-1 in the second set when her game fell apart. 4 The pretty Briton, helped by Miss Frys suddenly erratic service and volleying, c pulled ahead to 5-4. 2 But she was unable to hold the pace and g missed two easy shots in the twelfth game. 0 Miss Fry broke through her opponents service for the fourteenth and winning P game.
