Struggle at Wimbledon

For two long and bitter days they slugged it out, smashing serves with unladylike power, skirmishing boldly at the net, fighting off the cramps of fatigue and responding to mounting pressure by simply getting tougher. When the battle was over at Wimbledon last week, the British girls had outlasted the Americans, 4-3, and won the Wightman Cup, but not before players on both teams had produced a caliber of tennis that was unmatched in years for sustained drama.

The excitement began building with the very first match. San Diego's petite Karen Hantze, 17, was within one game of upsetting Ann Haydon when she began over-hitting in her eagerness, eventually lost 2-6, 11-9, 6-1. Then Darlene Hard, a power-hitting ex-waitress from Montebello, Calif., increased the tension by coming from behind for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Britain's 6-ft. Christine Truman. When Darlene and Karen needed just 45 minutes to humiliate Ann Haydon and Angela Mortimer in the doubles, 6-0, 6-0, the U.S. seemed well in command of play.

On the final day, with the U.S. leading 3-2, the cup appeared won when U.S. Team Captain Janet Hopps took the first set 8-6 from Angela Mortimer, led 4-2 in the second set. But the British girl pulled hersen together just as the American was racked with an attack of cramps. Angela ran off nine games in a row to win 6-8, 6-4, 6-1, tie the score at 3-3, and put the cup up to a final match of doubles between Janet Hopps and Dorothy Head Knode for the U.S. and Christine Truman and Shirley Bloomer Brasher for Britain.

The seesaw match paled anything that had gone before. The Americans rippled off four quick games; the British girls fought back to take six in a row and the set, 6-4. In the second set, the Americans won the first three games, only to have the British rally again to take the lead. Five times the Americans fought off match point. It was well past 8 p.m. when the final shot gave the British the set, 9-7, the match and the Wightman Cup, a rose-filled gewgaw that had been tethered by a rope on a windswept sideline during the two days of struggle.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.