New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-10
Miss BjurStedt at Best
In Victory Over Miss G0SS
By Fred Hawthorne

Nn ue1eaClnE MISS Eleanor GOSS by
score of 6-1. Cd yesterday afternoon
in the final round of the women's an
nual invitation lawn tennis tournament
at the Heights Casino, in Brooklyn,
Miss Molla Bjurstedt, national woman
champion, gave the spectators most
impressive demonstration of tho won
derful heights to which she can raise
her game when the mood is on her.
Strong and courageous a player as
Miss Goss has shown herself to be,
the great champion from Norway lit
orally swept all opposition aside by the
fury of her attack and the amazing
speed with which she leaped about her
court. So swiftly did "Marvellous
Molla's" returns como back over the
net that her opponent had no chance
to get into position, as rule, and was
always attempting to do the impossible.
She did we'll TO get the two games that
came to her.
To mako the sway Of Norway SUI
prcmc, Miss Bjurstedt. paired with
Mrs. Johan Rogge, her girlnood friend
from the Northland, had defeated
Mrs. David G. Mills and Miss Marie
Wagner. national indoor champion,
earlier in the day. by score of GO,
Cd, in the final round of the womens
doubles. In the second set Mrs. Mills
and her partner threatened, for time,
t. put up bitter struggle, but they
were unequal to the task and were
forced to bow TO superior speed and
skill.
Pros Defeat Amateurs
Following these two matches, the
spectators were treated to scintillat-
irg doubles match between Harry Nc
Neal, the Casino professional, and
Jimmy Burns, the Rockaway Hunt
Club pro, on the one side, and Fred
erick B. Alexander, internatio nalst Of
Iavis Cup fame, and Harold A. Throck-
morton, former national interscholastic
title holder, on the other. Tho anna
tours were defeated after four dcs-
pcrate sets by score Of 1t, "a,
10, 6-3.
Throcklnorton, who had left sick
bed to play for the benefit of the Red
Cross fund at the Casino, was brilliant
III the extreme during the early part of
the match. but the pace was too much
for man in his condition and he
Had he been able to hold his form to
the end, he and Alexander might have
reversed the result.
Taking the match from first point to
last, Alexander's work stood out above
that of the other three players. The
cold master" always held leading
part in the lightning voiieying at the
net, and the play of his racquet from
every position in the court was ever a
dominant factor.
McNeal and Burns continued to I'M
prove as the match heightened. While
in the first set they We're clearly out
played by the amateurs, who were
| playing their shot with such splendid
depth as to make it impossible for the
opposing pair to work their way inside
the service court line, in the second
and succeeding sets they forced the
net position simultaneously, with
deadly effect.
Burns fell down on many half-vol-
leys at first, but after he once got into
position for sharp overhead volleys
and smashes he cannonaded the ball
through the openings with tremendous
speed.
McNeal, too, had his flights of Wild
ness. His severe service was often re-
sponsiblc for double faults. and at
times he seemed to gauge the length
of the court poorly, but later he
steadied and began to reel off the
most dazAing of aharp-angled volley-
/ ing shots, that almost dctied return.
Large Crowd Attended
The largest crowd of the week sat
about the court surface and in the
windows of the gallery above during
the playing of the matches. Chief in
terest centred in the meeting between
Miss Bjurstedt aud~~Miss Goss, for
there wee many present who believed