Henry Hub
Hall of Fame
Hobart is the next to fall, choking at 4-0 up in the fifth against Eddie Hall.
Two of the remaining second rank, Chase and Stevens, are beaten by Hall and an imperious Hovey, respectively.
The two semifinals are Hovey against Wrenn and Hall against Larned. Whitney picks Hovey and Hall as the winners, with Hall to win the All Comers’.
Harper’s tennis man is more than half right. It’s one match too many for Bob Wrenn, who can’t mount much opposition against Fred Hovey this time. However, Hall and Larned stage one of the great early US matches.
Larned is famously mercurial in his early tennis career, his game veering wildly between magisterial and mediocre, often within single sets.
He starts poorly, though Hall has opened with his A game firing well. In the second, though, the young Cornell man obliterates his opponent with trademark aggressive and accurate ball-striking. This form continues into the third, which he also takes despite a late wobble. Hall adopts a lobbing game in the fourth and takes it with some ease, exploiting growing inconsistency from Larned.
Hall builds a 5-3 lead in the fifth, his steady game surely making him odds-on to win. Hall’s level does not drop an iota but Larned hits another unplayable streak. To the excitement of the crowd, he red-lines his game once again, his groundstrokes blasting through Hall’s defences and any lobs dispatched violently.
He wrestles the score back to parity, successfully serves to stay in the match at 5-6 down and then puts the pedal down and finds yet another level to get across the line 8-6.
Two of the remaining second rank, Chase and Stevens, are beaten by Hall and an imperious Hovey, respectively.
The two semifinals are Hovey against Wrenn and Hall against Larned. Whitney picks Hovey and Hall as the winners, with Hall to win the All Comers’.
Harper’s tennis man is more than half right. It’s one match too many for Bob Wrenn, who can’t mount much opposition against Fred Hovey this time. However, Hall and Larned stage one of the great early US matches.
Larned is famously mercurial in his early tennis career, his game veering wildly between magisterial and mediocre, often within single sets.
He starts poorly, though Hall has opened with his A game firing well. In the second, though, the young Cornell man obliterates his opponent with trademark aggressive and accurate ball-striking. This form continues into the third, which he also takes despite a late wobble. Hall adopts a lobbing game in the fourth and takes it with some ease, exploiting growing inconsistency from Larned.
Hall builds a 5-3 lead in the fifth, his steady game surely making him odds-on to win. Hall’s level does not drop an iota but Larned hits another unplayable streak. To the excitement of the crowd, he red-lines his game once again, his groundstrokes blasting through Hall’s defences and any lobs dispatched violently.
He wrestles the score back to parity, successfully serves to stay in the match at 5-6 down and then puts the pedal down and finds yet another level to get across the line 8-6.