The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1951-11-20
VARELA, VAN co
DOWN IN ONE OF
HARDEST.FOucHT
BATTLES OF 81

fiercest tennis battle ever seen
in Bayview Park.
Their opponents, Peter yarela
and Coach Van, held no less than
seven set points in the bitterly
contested second set, and the
crowd-the largest yet seen in
Bayview-almost unanimous in
It's support of the challengers--
saw their favorites seven times
fail by "a hairs breadth to make
good the pay-off shot that would
have tied the count and probably
have won the match.
Key VESTS new mayor.elect.
c. B. Harvey presented the
awards to the victors. The
Lays Potato Chip Company are
the donors of the big trophies.
AS predicted in yesterdays pre-
view story. the wind was a large
factor in the long struggle and
along with ii went a chilliness
that frightened the players-the
champions in particular - and
madelfpr kind of restrained ten
ms more notable for its missed
opportunities than for its full
blospnl strokes 4sss.t
Most of the hard stroking was
core tv't Van and Varela. With
Earl Yates behindithe loud speak
or describing the plays They
leaped to'a ST Lead in the open
ing chapter when Varela dropped
the opening game and he and
Van countered by pulverizing
Hartenstine's delivery, carrying
Vans ard breaking Sellers. Peter
then Wilted on service when he
got to the net too late for Ralph's
chopped returns and Hartenstine
carried his second serve with
savage twists to the opponents
backhand corners to even the
count.
Van lost for 4-3, Sellers exc
cuteG two brilliant lobs TO carry
for So, Varela came through
with lovely low vollevs to narrow
It to 5-4 and Hartenstine carried
service from 40-30 for Ga first
set.
The champions nowhere in this
set showed the hard driving that
marked their matches at the Casa
Marina. They emerged with
shaky but definite edge in this
first set by outfencing Varela and
Van and simply by hitting one
more ball, however soft. over the.i
net.
The second set began very much
rs the first Hartenstine and Sell
lers stole enough KEY points
from their chops and lobs to gain
Az lead At 80 they broke
through Vans service as the wind
rose to raise hob with his second
bali and his delicately angled
stop volleys.
At this moment the drama be-
gan in earnest. Peter came back
into touch a series of lovely low
volleys cross-court to make it
4-3 and Hartenstine. after leading
400, blew three straight game
points and the two following to
drop service and knot the count
at "A. AS his last volley caught
the tape the crowd came to life
with long roll of applause for
the challengers. 1t sensed an up
set in the making and it was just
one point from being right.
Van now called on his complete
stamina to make it 5-4. He dipped
below the net after Hartenstine
low spinning chops and converted
them into placements. Sellers
wobbled a little but tied the count
at SIS as Hartenstine darted from
his alley position into the center
of the net to kill Vans inadeuuat-
ely angled service returns. Peter
carried service in one of the two
love games of the match (the 9TH
er was also a Varela service win
in the third game Of this sell. It
was 65 and the challengers had
the champions Keeling,
Hartenstine's delivery was up
and he promptly fell behind Is
40, meaning Van and Varela had
two points for the set coming up.
Sellers and Hartenstine contin-
ued their soft play; indeed they
were too tight and plagued by
the cold wind to do anything
more. The set hung on thread
and the challengers had only to
strike one hard clean blow to
sever IL.
The blow never fell. Ralph
fought back with the last ounce
of strength behind his spins, and.
although Van and Varela reached
the third and fourth set point in
this game. they couldn't make
them good. Score Sc. Van lost
service AS the high school CO.
horts groaned. but he rebounded
with two Furnishing forehands in
10 the alley to crash through Sell
lers' delivery and tie the count
at IT, Peter then drilled his hard
straight slice into Sellers far fore
hand and HartenStines back
hand to regain the lead at ST.
Ralph retaliated for 8-8. but not
before Varela and Van again
reached set point twice.
Van struck the last telling blow