Evening star., 1941-06-03
Has Real Test Today
Against Sara Moore
In 0uarter-fina|s
Former Champion Feels
She's Not Had Enough
Serious PIoy Lately
BY BILL DISMER, Jr.

With her record showing nary q
loss to any of the other foremost
contenders in The Stars tennis
tournament at Army Navy Country
Club, you'd think that Mary Cootes
Belin would be rather confident of
anneXing her third City of WASH
ington championship in five years
Over that period. she's beaten
Sara Moore, her opponent in to-
days quarter-fnal, three times;
Margo Lee, the defending cham
pion, twice, and Willie Herbert
probable finalist from the lower
half of the draw. once.
Yet. Mrs. Belin says she's not so
sure she'll be one of the contest
ants when Saturdays final round is
staged.
i've been playing too much social
doubles she remarked yesterday
while watching Miss Lee romp
through two matches with the loss
Of only three games and Miss Moore
take two love sets from one Ruth
ONeil.
Short on Competition.
II haven't got the stamina I once
had. either. And when one gets in
the habit of playing tennis just for
fun, as I've done mostly since get
ting married. it's hard to re-estab-
lsh. the competitive viewpoint.
"I don't know how much Sara s
been playing, but you can tell
Margos giving the game everything
she's got. Shed be tough for any
opponent and I can't think of any
harder work than playing her in a
tournament match Willie Herbert S
another who devotes a lot of time
to serious tennis and believe me, it
pays when the chips are down in an
important match to have that COM
petitive spirit to fall back on"
The Belin-Moore match was the
highight of today's schedule of five
the four semiflnalists by nightfall.
And because Miss Moore was not ex-
tended unduly yesterday in whipping
little Ruth O'Neil, 60, 60. and
because Mrs. Belin advanced via a
default after a flrSt-round bye, the
two ex-champions were to face prac-
ticallv cold"
Mrs. Herbert Plays Twice.
Mrs. Herbert was the only one
slated for two matches. providing
she whips Gwen Grove in a second
round encounter, as expected Miss
ny, a. ~
Yesterday because of graduation ex-
ercises and todays winner was to
tackle Jane Wilmerding in a quar-
ter-fnal engagement.
Other pairings today sent Miss Lee
against Frances Rowan, double
victor yesterday, and Charlotte
Decker against Peggy Kevser Smith
in what may prove as hard a match
as the Moore feature. After
an unimpressive start Yesterday
against Margaret Graham. little
Mrs. Smith settled down 10 whip
her bigger opponent, As, 6-1. 6-4,
and then captured more sideline
support by downing capable Elinor
Ffnckel. 6-3. 50. Miss Finckel
had warmed up for the match by
taking two love sets from Eleanor
Msyfield.
Miss Decker, on the other hand,
was forced to play only one match,
defeating Eleanor Fishburn, 6-3.
6-3. after Mrs Fishburn had
polished off Marion Bieira, 60,
81.
A slight surprise was created by
Mrs. Wilmerding in early play when
she defeated Lib Sewers. the Dis
trict's eighth-ranking netwoman. in
straight sets, 81, 60, but Mrs.
w. wasn't accorded much of a
chance against Mrs. Herbert today.
Miss Lee Is Impressive.
Miss Lees first and second round
victims were Sarita Peet and Mrs.
L. D. Yorke, whom she defeated
81, 81 and 60, 6-1, respectively.
Mrs. Yorke, a sister of c. Alphonso
Smith, the city's second ranking
male racketer, previously had out
lasted Beatrice zuckerman, 11-9,
6I4, in long, hard struggle.
Undoubtedly the days gamest
stand was made by 15-year-old Julie
Fiske who played Mrs Rowan,
Washington's seventh ranking play
er. to a standstill before finally losing
In three sets. Exhibiting unusual
power and steady game all around,
Miss Fiske captured the first set,
So, lost the second, 1-6, and
finally stubborn deuce set, As.
Mrs. Rowan then demonstrated her
recuperative qualities by returning
to the court to defeat Betty Zim-
merman, 6-1, 60.
Unless rain intervenes today, no
singles matches will be played to-
morrow, the afternoon to be devoted
to the start of doubles. Semifnal
singles tilts tentatively are sched-
uled for Thursday. doubles semi
finals for Friday and finals in both
on Saturday.