Harry Foster beat Alister Robinson 16/13,9/15,5/15,15/4,11/15,15/7 in the second leg of the Lacoste World Championship at The Queens Club.

Foster had won the first leg,in Montreal, a week before, by 4 games to 2, 15/11,1/15,15/7,15/6,13/15,17/14. Foster becomes the 25th World Champion since 1820 and the third Old Harrovian to hold the title, the other two being William Hart-Dyke, who first held the title in 1862 and John Prenn, who won his first World Championship in 1981.

A packed gallery at Queens watched one of the most enthralling World Championships of recent years, with neither player able to dominate for long. Although purists might have reservations about the quality of some of the strokeplay, the level of commitment,athleticism and ball skills displayed by both Foster and Robinson and the high standard of sportsmanship were much appreciated by all. A notable feature of the match was the number of service aces, with both players serving over 30 of them, many of them rolling. This perhaps contributed to the somewhat staccato nature of the games.

Robinson won the spin and promptly served 4 unreturnable aces.

Both players ,unsurprisingly, looked a touch tense. The early rallies set the tone for the rest of the match, Robinson attacking, going forward to the half volley and straightening the ball down the line when he had the opportunity, Foster retrieving heroically his extraordinary court coverage time and again frustrating his opponent. The score in this game as in the other games, fluctuated back and forth and the players were level at 8 all and then 10/8 to Harry when Ali had a run of 5 points to go to 13/10. At this point Foster was looking tight, but fought back to take serve and then produced three aces to level the score and then another to go one up in the set to 3. He went to 2/0 when Robinson hit down a straightforward forehand and took the game 16/13 after the next rally.