New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-09-14

n
II was match that will live long inc
The memories of all those who sat
throuch the FIVE thrilling, stirring sets.
r;ebaras. after being within three
ro;nts of victory, when he led at 6--5
and $40 in the twelfth game of the
ssnrth set, was finally moved down by
the deadly severity and accuracy of
,ssnston's play 1t was the little Cali
sornians ability to fight his hardest
wben his back was against the wall
and Richards WAS on the verge of win
~.ng his greatest court triumph that
saved the day fer Johnston.
Outplayed clearly by the junior
champion in the first two sets, John
ston hung on tenaciously at the start
Al the third. His stand at this stage
Was superb; it reminded one of little
hall terrier. teeth locked in grip that
vas not to be broken until the fight
vas over.
Unbeatable at Outset
In those first two sets Richards
blaved positively unbeatable tennis,
tennis that I do not believe any man
IN the world to-day could have con-
Qaered 1t was so dazzling that you
kept telling yourself, as you watched,
DHe can't possibly keep it up; no man
roald7 And that was true, for in the
third set Richards's game softened, his
shots lost their sting and his volleying
its crispness.
And then it was that Johnston, who
had found his feet at last, after that
frss furious, overwhelming attack of
Richards had lessened trsae, began
to strike sparks by the brilliance of
bis play.
TIE former champion fairly bristled
with determination and ferocious ag-
gressiveneSs as he started the fight
against odds that was not to end until
tie victory was his. Richards, after
his opponent had run into a command
ing lead in the third set, evidently
made up his mind TO let that go and
make his supreme bid in the fourth.
after the ten-lninute rest period.
That IS what he did, but only to find
that be was facing q more determined.
more dangerous. Johnston; a foeman
who had his teeth clenched and was
not to be shaken of under any condi-
tons.
Fourth Set Turning Point
This fourth set was the supreme
stage Of the great match. After John
ston had run into lead of 3 to /, to
and to 3, Richards came forth with
his highest bid for the honors. 1t was
we'll worthy of any championship, that
almost unbelievably brilliant streak of
tennis that the eighteen-year-old youth
flashed in the next three games, to
swing into the lead at to 5, and vet
fate, in the person of Little Bill"
Johnston, was against Richards to-day.
Johnston failed to stem the tide un-
I'll the twelfth game; then he stifened
n his defense, met Richards's supreme
attack and hurled it back, taking four
out Of the next FIVE games for the set
at 81 and the squaring of the match.
Baked on the very threshold of vic
iory, Richards had literally shot his
belt. In the fifth and final set he was
not able to get more than two games.
the third and seventh, in which he
staged his dying rally. Johnston took
the eighth game, for the set and match,
On four succe ssive errors, the last
point as Richards sent a backhand
drive from his baseline into the net
The Johnston Richards match COM
pleteiy overshadowed everything else.
Ever the amazing brillianee of Tilden,
phladeiphia's greatest living son,
came as a sort of anti-climax in the
match n which the tall champion de-
by score of Cd. Cd. 6-1, i'm
nediately after Johnston and Richards
had left the court.
Williams Beats yosheil
Richard Norris Williams I'd, of Bos-
ton, defeated S. Howard Noshell, of
New York in straight sets, at 7-5,
O-3, e., and among the other strong
contenders who came through to-day
we're Wallace F. Johnson, Francis T
hunter, Willis e. Davis, Robert and
howard Kinsey, William J. Clothier
and J. o. Anderson, Of Australia.
Craig Biddle, Of Philadelphia, won
MS way into the round before the
seni-fnal by defeating Alfred D. Ham
nett, at 81, Sc, 6-3, 6-1, and is
Ine 1arthest out toward the final
brackets. among the surviving field Of
fifteen players.
wish that I might describe each
passing phase of the match in which
Johnston turned back Richards's ire
msndous bid for glory. but that is i'm
possible. owing to lack of space, and
sne story Of the struggle must be re-
s'rlcted to generalization Of how it
was won and lost
As for Tilden's work to-day, iss is
hard to conceive of tennis much more
impressive. He literally swamped Shi-
midzu under a furious battery of low
bullet" drives, fore and backhand with
astonishing sessions of volleying at
acute angles In the main the cham
pton won from the base line. beating
the little Japanese at the latter's own
game.
shimidzu did not look as effective
Today as when he forced Tilden to
MVe sets at Forest Hills couple of