The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-01-07
ALICE MARBLE,
 TENNIS QUEEN, NEARLY UPSET
Mary Hardwick, English Girl Gave Star Great
 Test Before l2,OOO
BY HARRY FERGUSON United Press Sports EditOr)

New York, Jan. 2 - (U.P0 = An organ pealed "Goi Save The King" and lifted British girl to the point where she almost dethroned a queen.
 It was in Madison Square Garden and Miss Alice Marble, Queen of all the tennis courts from Berkeley to Wimbledon, was making her debut last night as 8 professional. Her opponent was Miss Mary Hardwick of Great Britain, who listened to the anthem of her empire, watched a Union Jack go up to the rafters and then almost brought about the hrst sports upset of the New Year.
 In the end AEce's power and cun- ming overcame Miss Hardwick, 8-6, '8-6. but for Is breathless minutes 12,371 persons thought that a fam ing spirit might defeat strength and skill. The British girl won four straight games before Miss Marble got the range and began to live up to her reputation.
 The tennis troupe-Miss Marble, Miss Hardwick, Don Budge and Bill Tilden-rideS westward today to start a 60-city tour in Chicago to- morrow night. They 1ured $25,614 into the Promoter Jack Harris cash register last night and Miss Marble, guaranteed $25, ,000 and a percentage seems certain to be $50,000 richer when the tour ends.
 TAlden Good
 She made a clean sweep on the green canvas court in the Garden. After defeating Miss Hardwick she paired with Tilden and won a mixed doubles match against Mary and Bulge, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3. Between those matches Budge and Tilden (still a great player for couple of sets) blistered the court with Don win ming, 6-3, 6-4. At times there were flashes of t ehold Tilden-annonball aces, miraculous returns and cun- ming placements. But 48 years claimed their toll at last and Big Bill, getting a bit ha1d these days, finally went down before Budges power.
 Every person in the Garden was on his feet when Miss Hardwick, also playing her first match as a pro, stod in a pool of white light while the British flag went up to the strains of God Save The King: Then the organ played "The Star Spangled Banner" and Miss Marble hit her first ball as professional.
 She had braided her blonde hair around her head and left of the jockey cap which is her trademark in international tennis. And the weight of $50,000 seemed to rest heavily on Alice. Her judgment of distance was bad and she was net ting frequently as the match start ed. Miss Hardwick flashed all over the court and ran out four games before Alice could get settled.
 On The Run
 Then class began to tell. Alice went to the net and her volleys be- came crisp and sure. In the fifth game she got Miss Hardwick on the run and then piled the pressure on. Miss Marble dropped only six points in winning the next five games to take the lead. She was nicking the lines nicely and kept her opponent flying along the baseline in a vain attempt to get the ball back.
 Miss Hardwick rallied to take the tenth game, but Alice won the 11th with the loss of only one point. Miss Hardw;ck took the 18th and after hard fight, Miss Marble won the 14th and then cracked her op- ponent's service to win the set.
 In the second set games went ac- cording to service until the 14th when M; ss Marble broke through. She ran the score up to set point and had an easy smash at the net to win the match. But Alice was too eager and netted. On the next point, however, she made a return across the court to Miss Hardwick,s back hand and the British girl couldn't get near it.
 Miss Marble probably will win 50 out of the 60 matches they play, but on the strength of what happened last night their tenis will be pretty pnOj t0 watch