Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-12-04
NOW FACES
DIFFICULT TASK
Must Stage Uphill Fight to
Overcome Williams
Racquet Lead
LOST 4 OUT. OF 7 GAMES

Charley Williams. British challenger.
got off TO flying start in tho first half
Of his match with Jock Soutar. the
t:tlcho'dcr. for the worlds open rae.
quets championship. II was PLAYED at
tn" Philadelphia Racquet Club Satur.
dny before small but exceedingly SO
lcct gallery Of local. New York, Boston
and Baltimore clubmcn.
The Englishman won four Of the
seven games played and Sontar faces
the hardest kind of an Uphill! fight to
overcome this advantage. The scores
Of the contest were 1916. 1910, Clio.
1915, 17.14. Ills and 1877.
1t was the most interesting. the
closest. the most bitterly fought and
with all that the most peculiar match
ever staged for the coveted racquets
crown In this country. Scutar upset
the advance dope In many ways. not
the lenst being his wonderful physical
condition, and In the opinion OF many
experts would have won but for the
fact that the gut with which his rae
QuetS were strung wis not up to stand.
ord and would not stand the strain of
the hard hitting which IL the featur"
of his play.
Just how many times the strings Of
his "bats" broke or hin, Is impossible
g. s"y. but it WINS in the npighhorho"d
Of fifty. and many Of these breaks came
ut the worst possible moment.
Ball Goes Through Racquet
On one occasion while attempting a
kill he. got off one Of his famous fore.
hand drives and the ball instead Of
sklmming down the court for kill
went right through the racquet.
Only two racquctS were broken. that
Is. the wooden frame or handle
'smashed, in the entire match. but vii.
! liams had some little trouble with the
| gut on his racqucts. though not nearly
so much as Jock, nor did his come ut
such critical moments.
! Sevcra. TIRES Jock was of OH what
appeared to be neat runn when his bat
would 30 back Oh him. 1t slowed W
his play. made him nervous and gch =.
orally upset his whole plan Of cam
paign. That he was able to carry
the match to the seven game limit
shows what clever. rrsOurceful player
he is.
Both men started slowly and the first
game was Il tirrSome. long. drawn out
affair taking thirty five minutes 10
play. almost, ii not actually. Il world s
! record for stars Of the class Of VIII
| liams and Sou,ar. Neither man could
run more thnn three points ut time,
| and for fifteen minutes toward the
end they alternated in putting eacn
other out OF service without scoring q
single point.
In racauats il the man who is mo-,
serving scoras n point it does NOT
count for hin, but mercy Gusts his
opponent from the serving box and gives
! him II chance at doing the delivering.
Service is n big asset IN rncqucts.
even more than in tennis. and when
Il mans service is working riSht he
| il apt to run out Il gam" in Jig time.
even against strong rival.
Williams Gets Going
Williams woke up to start the second
game and. keeping the service. ns was
his right for winning th" first frame.
slammed out six consecutive aces.
Jock tried hard to stag" a rally but
could not make good, tho breaking
Of the rncouet's strings. already re-.
ferrad to. playing n prominent part In
blocking his efforts. Williams soon
ran out. taking this game by 10 to q.
! Soutar came I" life IN tho third
game, yot his forcharh driv" working
smoothly and. with Il ran Of nine In
the ff,rpntl, inning. tn" h"st OF the
match. by the way. capped, hy ono Of
three in the nineteenth. took tn" game
I by IG-to-6 score. Just the reverse
of the previous game.
Williams hrarcd in his tnrn md was
III to lead of eight IN th" fourth game.
but Soutar gradually oyerhanl'd him
and finally won ont with n beautiful
| ~ - - ,,o, In tho tiftcrnth inning
tho score being II 10 II,
The fifth game was the turning point
Of the match. Sou,nr hit Il fast pace.
while Williams seemed to b" tired. Jock
rccisd of a lead Of II t" with runs
Of two, four. five and three, and ap.
| ncorcd 10 have the victory clinchcd.
On game hnll he slammed the bal hard
from, service, u racquet string hroRe nnd
the ball came back 1T the end wnil so
slowly Williams was able I" get IN a
kll, nnL take the service himself.
| Williams rnn four. two or them srrS'
loo meas. then Jock got the service him.
self. but could do nothing. and vii.
lipms rognining the delivery ran four
more, making lhe score lt.nll. Under
tho rules this rcuuired 'S"t three
which mennt that the first man to win
three points would take the game.
soutar Rallies
Soutar rallied long enough to tagc
the service away from Williams once.
but the latter was not to be denied
and regained It before Jock could tally
and ran out the game with three
beautiful shots. the last clean kill
that beat the champion completely.
But even the loss OF ,,L - game anne, i's had
Eredit could not sap Soutat.s courage,
] ana he came right back y win tl!s With