New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-08-15
BEAT CAL|FORN|ANS
IN SPIRITED MATCHES
StraChan and Griffin Both Came
to Grief in Tournament at
Southampton.
BUNDY DEFEATED AS WELL
Invaders from West Eliminated
by Smashing Play, Leaving
Trophy Safe in Hands of
Eastern Contestants.

From a stan Correspondent Of The Tribune. ]
Southa mpton Long Island. Aug. IA
CALIFORNIA; youthful players. John S.
Strachan and Clarence J. Griffin. came TO
grief in the continuation of the lawn
tennis cup singles on the turf courts OF
the Meadow Club here to-day. The de-
feat Of the two brilliant young players
left the singles to be fought out among
Karl II. Behr, Gustave +. Touch
ard. William J. Clothier and Alfred S.
Dabney. who filed in the brackets of the
semi-hnal round in the order named. In
this important tournament, at least, the
trophy is safe from the invasion OF the
phenomenal wielders OF the racquet from
the Pacific Coast
In the early session on the courts
Strachan. recent winner Of the national
clay court title. surprised the experts
By eliminating one OF the Pacific Coast
contingent Thomas g. Bundy. in straight
sets At 81. IS. Then Dabney created
even a greater stir by outplacing Griffin
and winning at 60. 6-3. Strachan
alone was left His meteoric perform
ance in his early match caused him TO
be regarded as an almost certain finalist.
But Karl Behr, the oldtime internation-
alist. had measured his game. and when
the two met in the fifth round Behr won
at Ct. 81, leading safely in each Of
the sets
Touchard arrived in the semi-fnal
round to pair with Behr by way of de-
featlng Frederick c. Inman by a score
OF Ga. e.. 1t is only justice TO both
10 state that neither played his game
and that Inman lacked even imitation
aggressivensss. Dnbney finished up his
good days work by defeating Howard
\. Plummer. the former Yale captain.
II was the only singles contest Of the
day that went through three sets the
former Harvard star plOdding along
through the first set but striking his
gait In the second, taking the match at
Is. &c. GO.
The gradual diminishing OF the field in
the doubles resulted in William A. Lar
ned and William J. Clothier, the pair
composed OF former national singles
champions. arriving in the semi-hnal
round The famous players In the third
round put up a splendidly sustained
match against c. Frederick Watson, jr,
and Gustaye +. Touchard. whom they de-
feated at 81, IS, e. Larned played
the net while Clothier held the back OF
the court IL was not often that Larned' 3
sinashes had the bite and sting OF those
OF the players from across the continent.
but the veteran played his shots surely
ba o.
through which TO gain the point
Tom Bundy and Billy Johnston with
stood the assaults in the doubles from
Richard Harte and O. Colket Gamer. a
youthful Harvard pair. and thereby ar
rived in the semi-hnal round also. Bun
dy and Johnston led in both sets. which
were furiously fought with five deuce
games I'm the first and four In the sec
ond. The order OF the service was BuHs
d.. Harte. Johnston and Gamer. the
Califoruians being unusually successful
when toeing the line. Strachan and
Griffin. the Pacific Coast challengers for
the natioall doubles title. won place In
the third round by defeating Frank NJ
Watroug and Stanley wainwright, Yale
pair that was short on practice. The
score was 6--1, 6-3.
The real interest OF the day centered
upon the singles, with their narrowing
field Strachan. because Of his remarkable
victories in the West and his bold hitting
OF the ball. seemed likely TO repeat the
achievements OF Mclaughlin. topping
over the top flight veterans. His defeat
Of Bundy was sufficiently impressive, with
its dazzling smashing and pretty drives
played on the run. 10 make II extremely
doubtful as 10 whether or not Karl Behr
could stand him off for the place in the
semi-nnal. This seemed all the more
likely, as the point tally in the sets OF
the Bundy match stood at = 70 10 In the
first set and 43 10 40 in the second set.
The boy. who by his flashing career
around the court has already earned the
name OF the California Meteor" met
Behr In the afternoon. He led off with
the service and by following in his ser
vice so as TO meet Behr's return for an
overland drive. Strachan won the first
game. II was then that Behr surprised
the spectators by revealing a complete
change OF his usual tactics. He stayed
back I'm his court. From near the base
line he sent over singing drives, passing
the boy II he could. but anyway keeping
him on the move and compelling him
always to make his shots from a new
position.
Behr was in the position Of the strate-
list Strachan was soon on the defensive.
and battle powerfully and bravely as he
could he was never quite able TO compel
Behr 10 give ground. The latter's drives
were splenddly accurate and he repeat
.dly shot the ball past Strachan al a siz-
zling pace when the Californian attempted
TO get to the net. Strachan fought won
derfully through the third, fourth and
fifth games, all Of which touched at
deuce. but he won only in the fourth.
Behr drove him wide Of position and
then whipped the ball across the net at
an ungettable angle. Strachan made an
other stand In the tenth game and by
his smashing sent the points TO deuce.
but he could not shake the veterans
wonderful drives and so lost the set at
Ga.
The second set was much like the first.
Strachan pulling Up to square the score
AZ 4-all by winning three games In
row. Five times the points touched at
deuce in the ninth game Of the set. Behr
handling some deep smashes and turning