Evening star., 1954-12-06
Seixas and Trabert
Rally 10 Top Aussies
For Doubles Crown
BY the Assoeioted Pres.

op Ws AsSoGi0Ieo PfetS
MELBOURNE, Dec. 6.-Amer-
ica's Davis Cup doubles combina-
ton of Vic Seixas and Tony
Trabert staged stirring come
back today to beat Australia s
Wimbledon champions, Rex
Hartwig and Mervin Rose, In
the finals of the Victorian ten
mis- championships, As, ST
6-3, 6-4, Ga.
The triumph, following the
seminal conquest of Australia s
other tandem of Lewis Hoad and
Ken Rosewall, buoyed United
States cup hopes and virtually
eliminated Harswig and Rose
from challenge round considera-
ton.
Il don't think the selectors
would dare take a chance with
Rose" said Colin Long, former
Australian player who writes
for the Melbourne Sun.
Bill Talbert, the United States
captain, took the triumph calmly.
He said he was very pleased" !"
but was not interpreting it as a
sure doubles point in the Davis
Cup competition
Too Close for Comfort.
II thought the boys won with
out having to extend themselves"
Talbert said. even so it was
too close for comfort.
Both Tony and Vic made
simple errors which hurt them,
particularly in the first two sets.
We can't afford the same errors
In the Davis Cup"
The left-handed Rose, who
holds the Australian national
singles title, definitely was the
weakest player on Kooyong Sta
dium's un-drenched court. BY
contrast, the slashing Hartwig
played the best tennis of the
foursome.
Rose lost his service six times,
twice in each of the last two sets,
and he repeatedly dubbed cru
cial shots at game and set point
stages.
He served a douole-tault at
game point in the sixth game OF
the third set and in the third
game OF the fifth set he double
faulted when he had the advan-
tage.
Hartwig, on the other hand.
was brilliant volleying and
smashing and made very few err
rors throughout the match.
He was phenomenal with sery-
Ice returns, sending drives back
at the feet of the net-rushing
Americans and preventing them
from attacking with volleys
And Hartwig was the only
player on the court who never
lost his service.
Seixas and Trabert, who
teamed up for the first time in
last years challenge round, when
they scored a surprise victory
over HartWig and Hoad, now hold
an advantage over both Austral-
ian tandems. /
They beat Hoad and Rosewaly |
IN the Wimbledon, French and |
United States championships
and whipped Rose and Hartwig
IN the French and Queens cham
pionships, losing to the latter
pair in the Wimbledon finals.
Seixas said he thought Rose
wall and Hoad were the better
team. "but Hartwig and Rose
until recently have given us
more trouble"
Most Australian tennis writer's
and observers said it was almost
certain Hoad and Rosewall
would play in the Davis CUP
doubles because of the un-
reliability of Rose, who seems
to lack the capacity for coming
through in the big moment.
The Australians. broke Seixas'
and Trabert's first services in
the opening set for a 40 lead
before the Americans almost
pulled a successful comeback by
cracking Roses delivery.
The second set followed sery-
Ice until the 18th game, when
SeixaS' service was broken,
Hartwig proceeded to win his
own service at love to win the
set.
Seixas and Trabert started
their comeback in the third set,
when they broke Roses service
N the sixth game.