Evening star., 1947-09-07
|Ta|bert,.T Taken
III, Is Forced
|0ut in Match
Beots FIom in Torrid
Forest Hills Set,
Then Defaults
By GoyIe Talbot
Associated Press Sports Writer


FOREST HILLS, N. Y, Sept. O.
The start of the National tennis
championships at Forest Hills was
marred today by an upset stomach
which forced Billy Talbert of New
York City, the fifth seeded Ameri-
can star, to default in the midst Of
a torrid first-round match against
young Herbie Flam of Beverly Hills,
a potential Davis Cup star.
A record opening-day crowd of
1000 in the big stadium saw Tall
bert, who is handicapped by dia-
betes, win long drawn first set
from the Coast youngster, 11-9,
and then collapse after Flam had
taken the opening game of the
second set.
Talbert, who twice was runnerup
for the national crown in 1914 and
As, made his way to a first. aid sta
ton under the stadium without as
sistance, but he lay in a state Of
exhaustion for more than an hour
before he was taken in a car to the
clubhouse. Several hours later he
felt somewhat better, but not much.
First Incident of Kind.
As far as the oldest observers
could remember, it was the first
time man ever was forced to de-
fault in the stadium, though both
Suzanne Lenglen of France and
Mrs. Helen Wills Moody were the
subjects of much-publicized retire.
ments in other years.
Flam, who won the national
Junior championship both in As
and 49, without the loss of a set,
was giving Talbert a titanic, If
somewhat unusual, tussle before the
unfortunate ending came. In the
first set Talbert broke the young
ster'S service. seven times and drop.
ped his own delivery six times.
Chances are they established rec
ord for futility of services.
Talbert was the only name player
among either the men or women to
lose out in the opening stages of
the net classic. All the others who
are supposed to be around when
the event starts to become a tight
fight late next week won without
undue difficulty.
Kramer Draws Bye.
Jack Kramer, the defending mems
champion, drew a bye in today's
first round, as also did John Brom-
wich of Australia, the top seeded
foreign star. Dinny Pals of Aus
tralia, third seeded visitor, was
bracketed to play today, but the
officials put him over until tomor-
row for the benefit of the Sunday
visitors.
The only one of the top stars who
was forced to work up sweat was
Jaroslav Drobny, the left-handed
Czech Davis Cupper, who was max.
ing his bow in this country. Jaro-
slav was fed an unknown named
Clayton Benham from Honolulu.
and he got the scare of his life.
Benham, a sturdy slugger, was
within point of winning the first
set before Drobny settled down and
won out by 81, Ga, Is.
The other big guns such as
frankie Parker, Tom Brown, Gard
mar Mulloy, Pancho Sequra and the
others whisked past their initial OPP
ponents with minimum OF exer-
ton.
Miss Osborne Winner.
The feminine division also was
free of upsets. Margaret Osborne of
San Francisco, who is favored to
succeed Pauline Betz as National
singles champion, opened the fes-
tivities with a quick and graceful
e1, 60 win over Jean Clarke Of
Birmingham, Ala, and the other
stars followed her into the second
round in an unbroken stream.
Louise Brough Of Beverly Hills.
seeded second, overwhelmed Mrs.
Anne Gray of Washington and Doris
Hart of Miami, seeded third, sub
dued Adrienne r. Goldberg OF Bal
timore, 60, 60.
The only thing approaching an
upset saw Nina Irwin of New York
City eliminate young Joy Cannon.
member of the British Wightman
Cup squad, 6-8, Is, 6-3.
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