Neil Smith swept the boards here today winning both the US Open singles and doubles

He beat Harry Foster 15/6, 10/15, 15/11, and 17/15 and then teamed with New York head pro Tim Chisholm to defeat Foster and Guy Smith-Bingham in the doubles 15/6, 11/15, 15/4, and 16/15.

In the singles, Foster had two game balls in what turned out to be the final game at 14/10 and 14/12, but he just could not finish Smith off to extend the match. With Smith serving at 13/14, Harry called a service down on himself, a marvelous sporting gesture typical of our great game, which allowed Smith to reach 14 all. Then in the set to three, Foster got back in to even the game at 1/1, but could make no further progress. With Smith serving, Foster misjudged a heartbreaker in the corner, and his doom was sealed.

A large gallery that included many touring British cognoscenti was vocal in its appreciation of the match. In the first game, Foster was, in the words of Manchester’s Judge Hegarty, badly unsettled by a no let call against him. Guy Smith-Bingham was overheard to opine that if Foster had just turned another five degrees to the side he would have got the call. Such was the standard of punditry in the gallery.

One of the eccentric peculiarities of the match occurred in the second game when Foster left the court feeling unwell. Some said it was two successive grueling five-game matches against Tim Chisholm and Guy Devereux. Others put it down to the rigors of the social program laid on by the Racquet Club entertainment committee. Even others thought that it might have been the pre-match, full English breakfast hosted by Queens Club grandee D.C.B. Pennick. At one point referee Derek Barrett ordered Foster to play on despite the sporting acquiescence of his sympathetic opponent. Another unusual occurrence was when Smith ran into one of his own fair serves to lose the box.

After a champagne lunch in the Club dining room (Foster was not seen to need further stoking) the gallery returned to the court for the doubles final. Guy Smith-Bingham gave a particularly good account of himself and was judged the hardest hitter. He also served well with, in the words of Pennick, more cut than a Sabatier knife.

At the prize giving, however, tournament Chairman Jonathan Larken, suggested that Tim Chisholm might have been the man of the match. His quickness and hand-eye gifts are marvelous to behold, and his coolness remarkable in this elevated company, in only his second rackets competition ever.

Tennis & Rackets Association Chairman emeritus, Charles Swallow, was full of admiration for Chisholm. I like the way he keeps his racquet up, said the legendary champion and sage.