Evening star., 1900-08-17
PREMIER TENNIS
Championship Contests at Newport
Full of Excitement.
FITZ WILL CLAIM CHAMPIONSHIP
Jockeys at Saratoga Ride Several
Queer Races.
BASE BALL NEWS AND GOSSIP

Lovers of lawn tennis were treated to the
finest days play seen in many years in a
championship tournament at Newport yes
terday although the Casino grounds were
not so well filled earlier in the week. The
heavy shower of the early morning not only
drove away many of the usual spectators
but 1t also drenched the courts badly, and
it was not until after IL o'clock that they
could be got into shape for play and the
championship matches started The second
round OF the singles was the order of the
day, and all of the eight matches were play
ed at the same time on as many different
courts.
Much interest centered in the play of the
spectators gathered at first around the
courts on which they were struggling
against two of the weaker American play
ers. Instead of the easy victories that they
We're expected to have, both of the visitors
We're forced to play their best tennis to win
and each had a narrow escape from being
beaten by a player whom he was supposed
to outclass. Davis and Wright, two Of the
crack American experts, also got deeply
into trouble, and Davis had close call
with } oung Allen of Yale.
The feature of the morning was the Gore
Ward match which was put on the cham
pionship court. The Brtisher began very
bravely, and captured the first set easily,
but Wards clever volleying and his pc
culiar twist services and rushing net tao
tics kept him guessing In the - :cnd and
third sets, both of which went to the Amer
lean player. In the fourth set, Ward came
very close to whipping the match. He led
up to 4-2, and at "a needed only one game
for the match. He was badly winded, how
ever, and Cores terrible pounding drives
gradually beat down his defense and finally
pulled out the fourth set and then took
the fifth rather easily. Had Wards strength
lasted little longer, he must have beaten
the Britisher
In the meantime Black was having al
most as hard a time of 1t against even a
weaker American player, and old critics
shook their heads sadly when they saw
him. Dr. Ewes, the Englishman who came
mere three years ago, played the same
American, Budlong, here in the champion
ship tournament. and beat him much
easier than did Black yesterday, yet could
not win the American championship. Bud
long, too. was not so strong as three years
ago and the other American leaders have
gone ahead since those days. the gem
eral impression among the experts was one
of relief. as 1t began to look though the
American championship was not in so
much danger as they had been led to fear.
Budlong got lead of Al the third set.
and lost 1t. Ga. but managed to hold the
fourth, 11-9. and tie the score of the
match, even though Black did finally beat
him out in the fifth set.
Larned, Chace and both of the Wrenn
brothers had easy victories. but both Davis
and Wright caught tartars in Allen and
tOlllnS, ana eacn came near DelnR beaten.
Allen got lead Of two sets to one, and in
the fourth set led up to +3 and had forty
fifteen on the next game. only to finally
| lose the match in five exciting sets of play.
Collins, too. gave Wright a bad scare, and
| the Harvard man had close call to get
| out of the hole he got into. The western
| champion also got a lead of two sets to
| one against his adversary. and seemed to
| be outplaying him in good style. Wright
had lot of strength in reserve. however,
| and he played a splendid uphill match for
| the last two sets, winning both by 6-3
| each Collins showed a splendid command
| of the ball, and his low voleying was bet
| ter than shown by any other player in
! the tournament far.
The strength shown by ex-Champion r.
| d Wrenn against Stevens yesterday was a
| decided surprise. and he Is being seriously
considered for the first time among the
| championship probabilities. He meets his
| brother tomorrow. and as he seems to have
| regained most OF his old speed and volley-
| ing skill. as we'll much of his former
! endurance. he is expected to win, in which
| case he will meet one of the Englishmen
| in the semi-finals tomorrow. The two Wis
itors play the third round today, while
Larned meets Chace and Wright plays
| Davis. the winners all going in the semi
| final round.