New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-19
WESTERN MEN CHAMPIONS.
THE NEELs BEAT wRENN AND CHACL
AT LAWN TENNIS.
NEWPORT TURNED OUT STRONGLY TO SEE THE
MATCH WHICH IT TOOK FIVE SETS
IBY TELEGRAPH To THE rRrBUNE.l


IBY TELEGRAPH To THE rRrBUNE.l
Newport. r. l., Aug. 1s-After brilliant fve-set
match this morning the Neel brothers. OF Chicago.
defeated Wrcnn and Chace for the tennis champion
ship OF the United States. The match was put
down for II o'clock on the championship court and
long before that time the seats on the grand stand
began filling up with the fashionable Newport
throng. Crowds came in from the nearby resorts,
and when H. s Mansfield the referee. mounted the
official PLATFORM fully 1900 people had gathered TO
the play.
Although the Neels were the challenging team.
their brilliant defeat OF Hovey and Hobart in the
Narragansett Pier tournament last week made them
slight favorites with the crowd Over In the big
Casino. where of the betting done. the
odds stood to In their favor. with plenty of takers
Not in some years have the Newport courts been
the scene OF such exciting contest that which
was witnessed this morning Through the first
four sets the advantage swayed slowly back and
forth between the chalengers and the challenged.
1t was difficult to predict which team would finally
win the victory. Not until the last set did the
Westerners show their supremacy over their East
ern rivals and make the championship their own.
1t n match full of clever playing on both sides.
but where the Neels showed their superiority was
In their skilful team work and the quckness with
which they seized favorable opportunities Wrenn
and Chace adopted defensive game from the start
and lobbed and voeyed. volleyed and obbed until
their opponents were almost exhausted The trick
failed of its effect however. for the Neels handled
the sky-scrapers with a skill and accuracy that
nothing could excel
During the first set the challenging team seemed
to have things all their own way Chacc was weak
and kept popping up short lobs with disheartenng
pcrsstency. This allowed the Western pair to rush
in and Kill with sizzling effect Wrenn was also
badly off his game and punished the net repeatedly.
Neither man seemed to be playing with the force
and confidence which have made their games
I r N Tho Naac on tbe har
hand. covered the court with dash and effective
ness that brought out storms Of applause. Sam
Nee In particular distinguished himself in this
respect When he dashed to the net his strokes
delivered with clinchinG force that seemed
TO tickle the spectators immensely.
The first went to the Neels at G-3. but In the
second Wrenn and Chace varied their monotonous
lobbng with some hot drives that seemed to bother
their adversaries considerably They would get the
Neels the run. and then at a favorable moment
they would hammer the ball home. and away II
would 30 over the net across the down the
lines until the Western cracks seemed almost de-
moralized The set finally chalked up to
Wrenn and Chaoe at 81
The brief intermission seemed to have whole
some effect the Ncels. for when the third
opened Wronn and Chace again forced to the
defensive and the patent scoring machine regis
tered the games steadily i'm the Neels favor. When
they out at 6-1 there We're few who thought the
Eastern team would win The next set however
changed the predictions considerably. for Wrenn
and Chace played with the desperation of antci-
pated defeat. Try they would the Nees could
not stop their rush and they slowly gave way before
IT, Wrenn and Chace's victory I'm this tied
score and caused the excitement to high. The
effort, however had told them severely Chace
looked though he were holding simply through
nerve In fact, he was i'm condition for the
struggle as he FRUSTRATED by the heat last
week and was unconscious for several hours
The last set was soon over. The Neels opened
| with the first five games. Then Wrenn and Chace
made short stand and captured the next. but II
was only momcntary squirt. The Neels
short. sharp struggle. The climbed 4O-15.
when Chace swung his racquet high lob and
sent the ball singing out Of court and the title
transferred TO the champions.
During the day the preliminary round matches In
the singles or and number OF close
tests resulted. The score:
Championship doubles (challeng. round-C. B. and s
II. Neel chalengars. beat r. D. Wrenn and VI. Chace.
holders. 6-3. i-6 81. 3-6. 81
Championship singles preliminary round)-c. r. Bud
S?s H'a Grant V E0i Niles f Si Ssss R 'fi'
land %. - e: a p. Hawes beat j. scI. Walton,
81 So 6-3 e q. L. Wrenn beat W. l.. Myers.
6-1 %. Go c. a. Gould beat H. r. Avery C 60.
- Is: +. Wrenn beat ". T. cloiher. 81. GO.
Z. Stile beat 5 Ward 81 90 80 GO: W A.
Larned beat Dean Miller "a. G-3. Ga: @. W. Lee
beat w. \. Bethel. 36. e.. 64. Sc. 6-3: VI. d.
Whitman beat J. F Taimaee: jr.. 81. e.. "a g.
H. Ward beat l.. J. Grant 80, e-s. 90; II. P Davis
beat W. W. Reese. G-3. G-i 6-3 G.. H. Sheldon
r. Horton, -. 60. SC; J. g. Neelv bea; r. T. Parke.
- 81. e. 81; l. f. Ware beat r. Fincke. 81.