Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-09-08
c. Golfers Satisfied With Workouts: Little uek
Edith Clarke, Playing Against Physicians
Order, Beats Sara Moore in Tight Net Final
BY BILL DISMER, JR.

~ HE'S been playing against the
doctors order since her skull
was fractured by a horses kick
- last May, but the only fracture
apparent yesterday was the break she
made into the circle of leading wom-
en- racketers hereabouts as she de-
feated Sara Moore. As, IS, 6-4.
for the championship of the Army
Navy Country Clubs Fall invitation
tennis tournament.
Edith Clarke, an experienced horse
woman, with swagger like regular
Cavalry officer. was advised by her
physician against playing tennis for
year after her pet horse kicked her
in the head after a spill last Spring.
Yesterday she shouted defiance at the
medico who said it shouldn't be al
lowed" by coming through in fine fet-
tie after defeating one of the two
best feminine players the District has
seen all season.
MISS CLARKE was nervous yester.
day, but so would any partici-
pant have been in the closest wom-
ems final played here this year. In a
fitting wind-up to women's local net
activities for 1885 the match went the
limit of three sets, with the winner
experiencing the loss of the initial
encounter. A bundle Of energy, the
colonel's daughter jumped into a.
lead in the first setto, but at thst
point she cracked" exactly as they
said cn Iil NJ {,1 tha
semi-finals of a major tournament
earlier this year. She cracked to the
extent of dropping the next four
games and Miss Moore drew first
blood.
Then began the battle. A study of
contrasts between Miss Clarke's tall
blonde figure and the medium-sized
brunette, the court was transformed
into battle ground of equal forces,
with first one and then the other
holding the advantage, but never by
more thon one game. Five times dur
ing that second set was the score
tied-at Ii, p, 3-3, A and
SIS. Then the bundle Of energy"
that was Miss Clarke turned into a
human dynamo, hitting on all cylir-
ders and hitting from all parts Of
the court.
She leaped into the air, she ran
from side to side, she charged to the
net, she dropped back for lobs-noth-
ing that Miss Moore could send over
seemed out of her reach. She took
the eleventh game at love for 6-5
lead and she didn't fool with the
twelfth. Getting set point on her
own serve at 40-15, she showed shot
at her foes backhand and Miss Moore
returned it exactly where Edith de-
| sired her-into the net. That squared
the match.
When. at the end of 10 minutes
intermission. Miss Moore called I'm
ready if you are, Edith" she couldn't
have foreseen how unready she really
was. Spurred on by her fathers serv-
| ice friends, who damned the little
porch of the club house, Edith be-
came charging general. sensing vic
tory as only matter of minutes. She
couldn't lose in the first four games,
running after every shot, no matter
how far out of reach it seemed. The
majority OF them she got, too.
When, at 40, she eased the pace,
Sara took four of the next five games,
but with the score 5-4. Miss Clarke
started the beginning of the end on
her own service. She didn't loiter
here either. 1t became Is, 80, 40-love,
and, with the arrival of match point,
the new champion tucked it away as
she had in the second set-forcing
her opponent to backhand into the
net.
THEY say Miss Clarke was mentioned
for the Wightman Cup team by
those who saw her play on the coast.
She's only 20 years old, and it wasn't
SO long ago that she attended Western
High School. Next year she's going to
play in more tournaments, especially
in this section Of the country. Already
she's planned to accompany Charlotte
Darling, Margaret Anderson and Edith
Moore, three ranking lassies of the
East, on touring trip Of the East's
most outstanding tournaments in 1886.
She licked Miss Anderson, ranked
No. 9 in the Middle Atlantic section,
Ga, 60, in the semi-final round of
the tournament she won yesterday.