New-York tribune., 1918-02-09

upnelQ Cno preStige OF Norway on
Goss and Mrs. Rawson L. Wood at
The real sensation of the day on the
Casino courts was the utter rout of
Miss Florence Ballin by Miss Goss in
the other semi-fnal round match of
the singles. Playing with impressive
speed and power, Miss Goss took twelve
games in row from Miss Ballin, win
ming at Go, Go, and gaining the
right to face Miss Bjurstedt for the
Casino Cup at 1880 o'clock this after
noon.
Mrs. Mills and Miss Marie Wagner,
national indoor champion, gained their
final round bracket by vanquishing
Mrs. Ernest Eberhardt and Mrs. w. H.
Pritchard at 6--1, Go. The victors
will take the court against Miss Blur
stedt and Mrs. Roggc at II o'clock this
morning ins the final round match.
Special Exhibition Doubles
The quality of play should be high
IN each event, for, N addition to the
two matches scheduled above, there
will be special exhibition mems
doubles, with amateurs opposing pro-
fessionals. Frederick B. Alexander,
five times national doubles champion,
and Harold A. Throckmorton, who, with
his partner of to-day, won the national
doubles tourney last year, will play
Harry McNeal. of the Casino, and
Il of
Club. This match is scheduled to start
at 2:15 o'clock.
With such programme for the day,
1T would not be surprising to see the
Casino crowded to the rails, with
consequent enrichment Of the Red
Cross war fund.
There were two surprises in the
play yesterday. Most striking was the
complete humiliation of Miss Ballin
by Miss Goss. While it was the gen
eral opinion before this match began
that Miss Goss would triumph, no one
imagined for moment that the defeat
would be so decisive. Miss Ballin
only recently, won the annual winter
tournament at Pinehurst, N. c.. and on
Thursday had played brilliant game
In the doubles with Mrs. Wood.
She appeared to be on her game in
the early stages of her struggle with
Miss Goss, but the latter was playing
in sensational manner, "stroking"
every shot with a beautiful sweep of
arm and racquet and making the most
of service that was truly remark
abe Rsffps for speed ;ds and pa5;n SEVERITY ~,
ka 10 ha elf
led her at 40 on games and was
maintaining her almost invincible pace.
She was reaching the net position
with amazing speed and volleying with
an unerring deadliness that seemed to
completely battle Miss Balln. While
the spectators watched the rapid
progress of events almost dumfound
and started. right after the second,
with no let-up in the whirlwnd pace.
Realizes Task Is Hopeless
At this stage Miss Ballin appeared
to realize that her task was hopeless
and her resistance weakened steadily.
Half dozen times she simply stood as
though dazed while Miss Goss sent her
service catapulting through the court
for clean aces, Miss Ballin never even
getting her racquet on the ball.
uiHS cNcIy unprotected opOC
in her opponents court, now with deep
forehand and backhand drives. then
with full volley shots taken on the
run, Miss Goss forged steadily ahead
until she had taken the second set at
Go and one of the most one-sided
matches ever recorded at the Casino.
1t is but simple justice to Miss Ballin
to say that she was far from her true
playing strength yesterday, and hence
was unequal to the task of holding off
her brilliant opponent.
There is considerable speculation as
to how Miss Goss will fare when she
clashes with Miss Bjurstedt this after
noon. The possibilities in her style of
game are almost limitless in women's
lawn tennis, yet we are compelled to
write it down that Miss Bjurstedt looks
like winner in straight sets to-day
The peerless speed Of foot of the
national champion, the splendid ag
gressiveness of her court tactics and
the powerful and perfect execution Of
almost every stroke are factors that it
does not seem likely Miss Goss, with
her more limited experience, will be
able to overcome. Yet surprise ever
waits on the threshold and there is
always the chance that champions may
fail
Miss Bjurstedt held command of the
situation every moment in her match
with Mrs. Mills. Although the latter
fought courageously, she was battling
against inevitable defeat. The Morse
girl was hitting too hard and volleying
with too deadly a racquet to be held in
even temporary leash.
Another Reversal
The other reversal came about in the
easy manner in which Mrs. Rogge an1
Miss Bjurstedt triumphed over Mr.
Wood and Miss Goss. The latter CON-
bination had played brilliant doubles
game against Mrs. Spencer Fullerton
Weaver and Miss Ballin on Thursday
and seemed to have at least an even
chance against the two Morse stars.
But yesterday Mrs. Wood and her
partner were just failing to bring off
the shots that they had executed per-
fcctly on the previous day, and the
opposition was surprisingly strong.
Mrs. Rogge won praise from experts in
the gallery by the brilliant manner in
which she made use of the lob to catch
the opposing pair out of position. Dur
ing the hottest of driving rallies Mrs.
Rogge would suddenly send up a high,
deep lob that caught Mrs. Wood and
her partner hopelcssly out of position
at the net. The new star from Norway
also volleyed beautifully at the net.
AS for Miss Bjurstedt, she simply
ran wild on the court, and it was often
her spectacular shots that finished off
the points with decisivencss and af-
i L.,