New-York tribune., 1918-01-23
Pro-" Get Busy in Big
60 Tourney at the Yale
Club
By A. c.. Cavagnaro

James Mullen, Of the Racquet and
Tennis Club, and Frank Laf orgue, in
structor at the Yale Club, were the
winners in the opening round Of
matches OF the frs. handicap profess
siunal squnsh tennis tourney, which got
undf,r way on the Ell courts yes.erd dHy.
MuIlun rallied brilliantly in the far,
OF apparent defeat to eliminats james
Rrvar, n clnhInatc, after four stiff
gHnres by scurs Of 11-1a, 1o-1y
15-11., 15-11. Lafforgun had matters
his own way in defHat.ing Harry Ha7-
riR, prcfess iunAl at the MontClNIr AtA-
letic Club, New Jersey, by a one-sidssd
count Of 1o-a, LA, 15-7- AS th@
Yals entrant allowed Harris q start of
th1n2 ncrs IN each gnrne- the Momtclair
PRO" nrtnAlly returned total OF only
eleven earned acer-
Howcvr-, squash tennis of q sImctzuc-
ular variety featured both matches.
The "pros," in training for many weeks,
are exhibiting their prowess for real
money, and in such instances derotees
of the sport can be assured of u slash
Ing demonstration Of the game
Mullen Causes u STlr
The sensational work of Mullen,
after a miserable start caused con-
siderable gossip among the onlookers-
Mullen appeared wofully unable to
fathom Bevan's smashing attack at the
outset, missing many easy shots and
continually driving into the telltalc-
However, he soon regained his poisc,
but too late to overhaul Bevan, who
had gathered an early lead Of points
to O.
Terrific smashing Of the ball. nu-
merous rallies and a practically contir-
uous series OF almost impossible "gets"
on the part of both players nvened up
the match. Bcvan displayed the better
part OF the match forced the issue He
changed his pace to a deceptive degree
and drove down the side walls for
many kills"
With the beginning Of the second
game. the aggressive Mullen showed at
his best He kept the pace hot one
and found his opponent a willing chal-
lenger. except for a few laps Of er-
ratio work Mullen worked the back
corners 'cross-court attack and fine
placement shots to good effect in beat
ing his opponent Bevan's right-hand
wrist began to trouble him during the
third game, and it was noticeable that
Eis forehard drives lacked the usual
speed
Mullen rallied in the third game
after spasrn of poor accuracy Of his
shois had given Bevan a lead Of 5
aces TO l in three games and braced
to settle the issue after six moro
hands out Bevan could not properly
return the low driven ball played by
Mullen frequently slamming it into
the telltale for errors. With the rama
at critical point, Mullen smashed
the ball hard. with the result that the
firing Bevan stroTe frantically to in
tercept the shots
Long-Fouyht Ra1lie.
Long fought rallies and scintillating
"gets" kept the onlookers spellbound
during the fourth game 1t was nip
and tuck struggle, with Mullen getting
Bevan right on his heels However,
with the score at II all, Bevan slightly
faltered after hard fght, to bow to
his opponent on three aces and one
placement shot
The inability Of Harris to get the
ball over the telltale was the prime
factor of his defeat Laffargue made
good use of his sprinting power, gained
years ago as an athlete Of the St Bar
tholornew Athletic Club, in jumping
around the court and getting his rae
quet to the slow drives of his rival
The Yale man kept pounding the ball
TO the corners Of the back wall and a
cross-court attack to gather the ma
jority Of his points. Although Laf-
fargue failed to collect his aces in big
numbers, his ability to count consist
emily openly showed his steadiness
throughout