The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-16
Misfortune Strikes Ranks .Of hUading Net Stars A s Am merican Women Win

FOREST HILLS, N. r., August 15. (By Associated Press s.)-Fice Ameri- can and three British stars remained in the running for the national womens singles championship today when third round play was com pleted on the turf courts of the West side Tennis club. Competition for the national doubles title was mar rowed down to one British and seven American pairs at the end of the sec ond round, Misfortune struck the ranks of the British players when the Illness of Mrs. Geraldine Beamish obliged her to default to Miss Helen Hooker of Greenwich Conn. in the singles and also contributed later to her defeat in the doubles, partnered with Mrs. R. c; Clayton, by two youthful Americans, Miss Ceres Baker, of Orange, N. J.. and Miss Lillian Scharman of New York.
 The elimination of the British pair in the doubles marked the first real playing upset of the tournament The losers were clearly not up to their usual standard but Miss Baker and Miss Scharman aided their own cause by particularly brilliant team work in the last two sets to put out the match by the scores of 2-6. 2-4, 6-2.
 Miss Baker Settles Down.
 Miss Bakers cratic play cost the Americans many chances in the first set, but thereafter she steadied down. scoring brilliantly with her partner | in sparkling exhibition of net play.
 The youngsters, gathering confi- | dence and displaying greater stamina, as the match went on, drove and vol | leyed brilliantly, frequently catching | their more experienced rivals far out of position with passing shots.
 The default of Mrs Beamish in the singles prevented fulfillmeut of pros poets for an all-international lineup | tomorrow in the fourth round. The seven other seeded" players all came through decisvely with the exception | of Miss Leslie Bancroft of Boston, No 2 in the national ranking, who was forced to three hard-fought sets to eliminate Mrs. B. F. Stense of New York, 9-11, 6-2, 6-3
 Miss Bancroft. whose game showed the effects of recent illness, was un- prepared for the New York woman's vigorous attack in the first set which exhibited A tournament record for 1 length. She steadied down, however, in the next two sets and out maneu- vered her opponent to pull out the match,
 MOIIO Given Scare.
 Mrs Moua Bjurstedt Mallory. cam paigning for her eighth national title. was given a momentary scare | by Miss Mayme Macdonald of Seattle, holder of the womens clay court crown but quickly settled into her stride to vanquish the western girl. Displaying puzzling chopstroke, Miss Macdonald ran up lead of 3-1 in the first set, breaking through the champions service in the third game. The little coast star wilted, however. at this point and began netting shot after shot as Mrs. Mall lory put more finishing power into her strokes. The champion took five straight games to capture the first set and was never in danger in the second, though Miss Mcdonald drive for drive in a number of bril- liant back court rallies.
 All three of the remaining British CTS in the singles played convincingly
 in gaining their fourth round brack- cts, particularly Miss Kathleen McKane ranking star of the invad-
 ing team She quickly disposed of Mrs w. NJ Shedden of Boston. 6-1, 6-1, and tomorrow faces Miss Helen Wills, Berkeley. Cal, school girl who gave another impressive exhibition today in defeating Mrs. Helene Pol lak Falk of New York with the loss of but one game,
 Miss Wills gained the verdict over Miss McKane In their first meeting last Saturday, when the international series was opened, but their play to- day was so closely on a par that