Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-13

Imade the statement the othas
day that big Bill" is not playing
within IS of the games he was
capable of three years ago, and ]
stick to that statement. But he
still has the old fighting hear!
that he has had since the first day
he held a racket in his hand.
If ever a player had his back to the
wall in q championship match Tilden
did have his here against young Van
Ryn. 1t was not so much what Van
that the East Orange star was more
or less content to keep the ball IN
play. but IL was simply that Tilden
could not do the things with the ball
he did few years back.
Fought the Ball.
That Is what I mean when I speak
of Tilden's fighting heart. There Is
nothing more diSconcerting to tennis
PLAYER than to be lighting the ball, "
and that Is what the tall Philadelphia
did In every set except the last against
Van Ryn.
Tilden's victory almost assures him
Of q place in the final round in spite
Of the fact that he still has TO defeat
Johnny Doeg In the semi-final round:
Doeg, incidentally, played beautiful
tennis in defeating H. w. Austin to
gain a place In the last four.
service and beautiful, punching vol.
ley, Doeg should 60 far in the game II
he ever takes the time to acquire
some ground strokes. At the present
time he depends entirely on his volley-
ing and service plus badly executed
chop stroke from the back OF the
court. For that reason Ttlden shoulo
have little trouble taking him into
camp to gain a place In the f1nal round
Both r. T. Hunter and Fritz Mei-
cur played good dependable tennis IN
eliminating Williams and Allison TO
gain a place In the favored semi-fnals.
Williams, after his super-tennis yes
terday against Arnold Jones, was ex-
pected to give Hunter q terrific night
for a place in the last four, but the
touch" that was so much in evil
dence Wednesday was entirely lacking
yesterday against the hard hitting
Hunter.
Always an in-and-outer, Dick never
did get started against the New Rochelle
star. Hunter was using his sizzling 1efe.
must be said that he gave Dick very few
OPPORTUNITIES to get set for those un-
canny side-line shots that he has beer
noted for since he first won the title lr
1914.
Efercur Is Versatile.
Allison,s defeat at the hands of Fritz
Mercur must be elassed in the nature
of an upset, since the Texas boy ranks
No. on the national ranking list and
Mercur No. Z. This match was simply q
revival Of the old argument OF the net
player against the base liner. In this
case, however, Mercur combined the
base liner with o fair amount OF net
play, and the combination was IRE.
Sistible, as the score will indicate.
I might say here that Mercur mas
been playing some excellent tennis all
Summer, and look for battle royal
when he takes the court against Hunter
in today's matches. On form Hunter
has the edge, due to his greater expert
ence and bulldog fighting ability. The
Westminster star has been playing well
within himself here all week, having yet
to be extended to five-set match since
the tournament started.
II Tilden and Hunter come through
to the final round Of this tournament
they will have created something Of a
record in the way of being finalists in
tournaments both in this country and
abroad. So far this season they have
played against each other in the final
round Of the Queens Club champion
ship in London, the finals in Holland
and Germany, and since their return to
this country they opposed each other in
the final round at the Westchester
Country Club. In the event they come