Evening star., 1942-06-12
Don Is sFavored
Over johnson.
In Semifina|s
SporkIes in Beating
Bensinger;; Chandler,
Courtney Bow Out
By LEWIS F. ATCHISON.

Don Leavens. cotton-haired fire.
brand who tossed young Bobby
Bensinger into the discard yester-
day with amazing ease. is the peo-
pies choice to dethrone Barney
Welsh if anybody can - in The
Stars City of Washington tennis
tournament gradually nearing its
end at Edgemoor Club.
Perhaps Leavens, southpaw,
would wilt when Lord Barney
poured on the coal. as most of
Welsh's opponents do, but there
was nothing faint-hearted in his
manner as he slapped down young
Bensinger, 60. 60. and the re-
suit augurs well for a rip-snorting
final if it boils down to an argu-
ment between himself and the
squire of Rockville.
Leavens meets Davey johnson to-
morrow in the semiflnals and may
not get beyond that round, for
johnson played a masterful game
in ousting the veteran Bud Chan
dler in straight sets, 6-3, s6.
But Leavens must be rated highly
off what the form he displayed
against Bensinger
This is not meant to make light
of JohnSen's victory, for Davey and
Chandler held the gallery's undi-
vided attention with their blister
ing rallies even when Welsh
dropped the first set of his match
with Jerry Courtney and seemed
on the verge of folding before driv-
ing to a 2-6. 60, 81 victory.
Chambers picture-book form, his
whitening serves and keen sense of
strategy completely captivated the
crowd, and Johnsen's ability to take
his best shots and ram them back
at him made it a worthwhile match.
Lynch Still in Picture.
Hugh Lynch. too. still remains in
the picture. He was to face Doyle
Royal in the last quarter final
match today. the winner to tackle
Welsh tomorrow. and the SUM-
tanned legal light was the choice
over his young University of Mary
land opponent. Lynch usually has
wormed his way into the final
round of most local tournaments
and then succumbed to Welsh in the
title match. but the process will
be hastened this time by the luck
of the draw, unless, of course, Hugh
pulls big surprise.
That would seem to leave it up to
Leavens or johnson and either
would be worthy opponent for the
bespectacled barrister. Doyle is
completely and casually overlooked,
despite that he is playing the best
tournament tennis of his career. but
Lynch still must be rated above him.
Hugh is steady and has the annoy
ing habit of returning any shot
within 20 feet. while Doyle at times
tends to be erratic.
Only Welsh, of yesterdays victors,
got off to slow start Leavens
toyed with Bensinger in chalking
up 60 victory in the first set and
johnson held the upper hand
throughout as he lambasted Chand-
Ter, 6-3 But Barney ended up on
the short end Of a 60 count, much
to everyone's surprise.
No Setup for Welsh.
The general idea was that Welsh
was putting on a show for the gall
lery when he dropped the set and
then took a 40 lead in the second,
but Barney denied this after the
match and when Courtney came
bouncing back to win the next two
games it was apparent that Welsh
wasn't kidding. Courtney, a steady
chap with sort of a crook-arm
stroke, volleyed we'll and kept the
ball in play for long periods while
both men looked for unguarded
openings, but in the end it was
Welsh's pulverizing power that
found them. Usually he passed the
former New Yorker for easy points.
Bensinger simply was in over his
head with a player of Leavens'
stature. The youngster tried gamely,
made several nice points and several
times caught Don mapping, but on
the whole Leavens outfoxed him
neatly. Bensinger's drop-shots had
no chance against Leavens, who
forced the action throughout, seldom
permitted the Friends School ace to
get set for a return and employed
tantalizing drop himself to good
advantage. In the main, Leavens
directed his attack at Bensinger's
backhand, forcing the lad into seri-
GUS errors.
Chandler really outdid himself in
the final cluster with johnson. An
oldster as tennis goes, with under
pinning not as lively as it could
(See TENNIS, Page ca