Evening star., 1941-06-08
Beats Willie Herbert
After Deciding Set
Lead Is Erased
Loser, Charlotte Decker
Win Over Sara Moore,
Eleanor Fishburn
By BILL DISMER, Jr.


when she was down, Is, in the de-
Gliding set proved futile for little
Willie Herbert at Army Navy Coun-
try Club yesterday as Mary Cootes
Belin counter rallied in the next
three games to capture her thiro
Star Tennis Tournament champion
ship in five years.
After fighting off one match point
In the tenth game which she won tc
tie the score at SIS, Mrs. Herbert
finally Succumbed to a Scorching
drive to her backhand which gave
Mrs. Belin the match, 6-3, 3-6
8-6. A large gallery, stirred by the
shifting fortunes of the hard
fought duel, gave both contestants
an ovation as they left the court
The losing singles finaliSt had her
consolation some two hours later
when she won the doubles cham
pionship paired with Charlotte
Decker, defeating Sara Moore and
Eleanor Fishburne in another three
set final, 6-3, 4-6, Is.
Col. Ristine Makes Awards.
Evening Star prizes to the WIN
ners and runnersup were presented
by Col. Carl Ristine, president OF
the District Tennis Association and
a member of the host club. Mrs
Belin again gained a years posses
sion of the perpetual trophy and was
presented a miniature. To Mrs
Herbert went a silver dish, While
all four doubles finalists-Mrs. Her
bert. Miss Decker, Mrs. F1shburne
and Miss Moore received prizes OF
silver. given by The Star.
Mrs. Belin's triumph, incidentally
gave her the distinction OF being
the only woman in the tournament
13-year history to win the City OF
washington championship three
times. Margo Lee and Margaret
Robinson have held the title twice
each.
If ever there was a worthy cham
pion of any tournament 1t Is Mrs
Belin who, by the luck Of the draw
was forced to meet in succession
her three most formidable rivals
Sara Moore, defending champion;
Margo Lee and Mrs. Herbert al
stood in her path in the late rounds
Mary didn't have an easy time with
anv of them, all forcing her to the
limit of three sets, but she stated
unhesitatingly after yesterday
match that her final victim gave
her the most trouble of all.
PAYS Tribute to Victim.
willie used her head as well as
her arm" the three-time cham
pion said, while catching her breath
"I knew she thought she had me
In that last set when she came from
4 Is to go into a 6-5 leaG. but
said to myself, She hasn't, May
She hasn't"
Faced with the chance to tie the
score on her own service, the ul-
innate winner didn't tarry, forcing
Willie into three successive out-of-
bounds returns. Then, with the
score at Gall, Mrs. Herbert lost hel
own service to drop behind for gooc
and, with the score at 30-all in the
next game, Mrs. Belin scored on 8
placement before forcing Willie tc
net a backhand on match point.
All in all, it was a great match
with both girls thrilling the specta-
tors with innumerable gets" as vel
as a surprisingly large number OF
placements. On the latter score
the loser held the edge, being cred
tied with % on The Stars score
card against % for Mrs. Belin.
After Mrs. Herbert had jumped
into a 81 lead in the first set, hel
foe ran off five successive games
for first blood, but the under dog
took five of the first six games in
the second set, letting up only long
enough to give Mrs. Belin the
seventh and eighth games. When
the repeating champion captured
five of the first six games in the
last set, 1t appeared like quick cur
tains for the spunky little public
parks champ, but Mrs. Herbert
wasn't through.
Willie Goes Down Fighting.
Twice during the next five games
she broke Mrs. Belins service, fight
ing off match point when Mrs
Belin was serving in the 10th game
At that time Mary had her 40-30
but Willie fed her hot shot to the
forehand that she couldn't handle
and then sharply angled a volley
two points later to tie the score.
The point scores:
FIRST SET.
Belin serving 252 1854 447-37-e
SECOND SET.
EsE6ert EsFD serving 533 533 a45 a45 443s 445-44-
eeAh THIRD SET
ssR BsTReFt serving "a 445 445 f59 M 54 5f4
Brilliant play by Miss Decker
featured her and Mrs. Herbert's
doubles win over the Fishburne-
Moore tandem, the little blond
school teacher volleying and strok-
ing expertly throughout the match
All three sets were nip and tuck
the lead changing hands four times
in the last in which never more
than one game separated the rivals
until the very last.
Services didn't mean thing
there being Is breaks in the 81
games. Mrs. Herbert and Mrs
Fishburne we're the only two to win
more games on their service than
they lost, the former taking six
of her eight and the latter five OF
eight. Miss Decker had hers broken
five times in eight and Miss Moore