CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
1978: English Open/ Europe Top 12/ Welsh
Open/ Rumanian Open/ Chinese National’s. 1978: European Championships.
From Canada we’re off to Great Britain where we’ll shortly hear from Topics Assistant Editor Carl Danner, followed by D-J and He-ja Lee who’ll give us a report on the European Championships.
Dual coverage of the Norwich Union English Open, played among 13 countries at Brighton, Jan. 12-14, is provided (TTT, Mar.-Apr., 1978, 12) by Richard Streeton (Team play) and David Hunn (Individual play)—accounts I as Topics Editor probably received from London-based Danner, and in the case of Streeton, but generally not the youthful-sounding Hunn, have mostly in my own voice summarized here.
In the second round of the Men’s Team’s, China II zipped the Czechs with Milan Orlowski going down in straight games to Chen Hsin-hua. China II, before losing the final to China I, then knocked out England I in the semi’s. However, as might be hoped in the home venue, the English, rallying, could not have made it closer before finally succumbing. After England’s Des Douglas and Nicky Jarvis were beaten in the opening singles, they paired to take the doubles, and then Douglas won a 19-in-the-3rd thriller from Teng Yi, “the 15-year-old Chinese Junior Champion.” That left Jarvis to test Chen—Nicky having been “chosen ahead of Paul Day, the England #2, because it was felt his stronger loop spin would trouble the Chinese more.”
And trouble Chen it would seem he did. Though down 10-2 in the deciding third, Jarvis “stubbornly fought his way back to 15-15. The closing points were desperate affairs but the end came after 20-20 when Jarvis first over-hit his forehand, then netted a return.” Though Nicky couldn’t quite save the day, his strong play “once again confirmed the remarkable comeback he’s made after prolonged surgery to his back last year.”
In Women’s Team play, China II blanked China I. As for the English in their semi’s tie against China I, only Carole Knight could make a good showing—she defeated Wei Li-chieh, 18, 7. “Knight’s aggressive loop topspin gained her the initiative after a hard-fought first game as the Chinese player faded and could not deal with her opponent’s splendid counter-attacking.”
In the fast-paced Men’s final [much exhibition play I gather] between the winner Li Chen-shih and Teng Yi, Hunn tells us that “the sympathies of the crowd were clearly with the incredible youngster…[whose] agility alone was enough to disturb Li. Once, Teng “cleaned missed a ball that sat up invitingly for his smash, and recovered quickly enough to get it at the second attempt—shaming the umpire who had already begun to call the score against him. But Li is uncannily difficult to beat, combining as he does smashes of paralyzing ferocity, teasing services from a steepling ball (though once he hit it under the table), and the ability to go on retrieving until his opponent’s arms drop off.”
“After such splendor, the women’s final was unavoidably anti-climactic [the Men’s final preceded the Women’s?]. That ultimate in inscrutable ladies, fifth-ranked world player Chu Hsiang-yun, chopped away relentlessly at the ceaseless, untidy topspin of Erzebet Palatinus and allowed the Yugoslav to destroy herself rapidly.”
“Self-destruction did not enter the Men’s Doubles. A positive Chinese holocaust [sic] brought…Li Chen-shih and Wang Huei-yuan to the final, and they might have been playing with flame-throwers, not table tennis balls.” The runner-up Czech pair, Orlowski and Ovcarik, “were consumed in three games, in the last of which they did not win a point until the 13th.”
Though England’s Defending European Champion Jill Hammersley lost a 19-in-the-5th killer to Japan’s Towako Takahashi, the English #1 men’s star, Douglas, reached the semi’s. But better yet, much better, he paired with Linda Howard to win the Mixed Doubles from Chen Hsin-hua and Women’s Champ Chu Hsiang-yun. Des and Linda “were fortunate, to put it mildly, that Chen was some way below his best form. One could not resist thoughts that Peking diplomacy was smiling on the hosts, but the British pair played beautifully to take the match [18, -18, 13, 12].”
Europe Top 12
Results of the Jan. 27-29 European Top 12 tournament at Prague: Men: 1. Gergely. 2. Orlowski. 3. Bengtsson. 4. Lieck. 5. Jonyer. 6. Secretin. 7. Surbek. 8. Martin. 9. Strokatov. 10. Kunz. (Thorsell withdrew because of illness) Women: 1. Hammersley. 2. Vriesekoop. 3. Popova. 4. Uhlikova. 5. Kishazi. 6. Szabo. 7. Hirschmuller. 8. Magos. 9. Bergeret. 10. Silhanova. (Hellman withdrew because of illness.) One male player, one female player didn’t show?)
Welsh Open
Carl Danner, in his excellent write-up of the Welsh Open, played Feb. 3-5 at Cardiff, speaks of Chinese dominance, but immediately highlights the surprising win of Hans Gootzen, the Dutch #5, over China’s Liang Ke-liang, World #1 in the World Rankings printed in the Nov.-Dec., 1977 Topics. This was “obviously no dump [sic],” says Carl—and proceeds to prove it [but not to me] by saying that Gootzen was down triple match point, then “twice incredibly countered all-out kills by Liang so well that Liang didn’t even touch them.” “Played too safe,” Liang through an interpreter told Carl [“too safe” after his all-out kills had been killed, but not before?]. Then, says Liang, “got caught at deuce.” [Doing what?] “Afterwards, Gootzen was rendered silly in the quarter’s by Yang Chuang-ning, reaching 10 only one game.”
Scotland’s #2 John McNee beat Max Crimmins, England’s newly-ranked #3, “and reached the semi’s of the Men’s Doubles with Scotland’s #1 Richard Yule, who himself beat Crimmins and Bob Potton (another English international who would have played D-J Lee in the 1st round had D-J showed). Yule also had an exciting 5-game win over Wu Chin-hsin, another marvelous Chinese player no one had ever seen before.”
In the Mixed, Carl was partnered by Canada’s #1, Mariann Domonkos (“who’s spending 6 weeks here with Birute Plucas, playing in a tournament a week”). They drew Wang Chien-chiang (who beat Danny Seemiller in Birmingham) and Li Ming. “We were wasted the first two games,” said Carl, “and then had the temerity to take a lead in the 3rd. This was a bad idea, for it only provoked Li Ming into using her high-toss serves. Exit us.”
Pak Yung Sun, the North Korean World Women’s Champion, “entered, but didn’t play, just sat and watched. Someone said she had ‘Chinese Flu’—didn’t want to lose to Chang Li or any of the other Chinese.” Carl said he’d heard from a friend who’d confirmed through an interpreter that a Chinese player had acknowledged [what everyone already knew] that Chang Li had dumped the Birmingham World Championship to Pak. Here in the Team’s, Chang was beaten by another North Korean, Pak Tong Ok (some were calling her not Ok but “Ox” because she was big and strong).
Just as in the English Open, the four Men’s semifinalists were three Chinese and Des Douglas. In the first semi’s, two shakehands righties met, and, though Ku Cheng-chiang “monster-looped everything from both sides while staring sullenly at his opponent Yang Chuang-ning,” it was the designated Yang who won their exhibition.
The second semi’s was between Douglas and Wang Chien-chiang. “Des’d had trouble with a Dutch chopper in an early round, but cruised through Richard Yule in the quarter’s. Wang was 20-17 down to Paul Day in the 1st, won that—then whomped him.”
“This semi’s,” said Carl, “is no exhibition” [but not a dump either?]. “Wang is determined, and Douglas, bothered by the Chinese serves and not quite at ease, plays a bad 1st game.” Wang, however, “is one of those rare players who can get through Douglas, and his serves and short game are very good. But not good enough apparently. With the match now 1-1, Des is up 10-2 in the 3rd because he’s been able to “get the ball in first, counter much better than Wang and can put the occasional loop past him.” Being so far down, “the Chinese player loses concentration, serves off twice, and of course is never in the game.”
The drama continues. “At the 2-1 break, Wang receives a good talking to from his stern-faced coach. You can see the Chinese want this one. Wang starts the fourth serving—and high-toss wildly sends the first one off. Douglas replies by missing two easy serves and a block off the edge of his racket.” Then Des 21-12 runs away with the game. As expected, the crowd’s abuzz.
Now the Women’s final. “Oh bloody hell, another exhibition.” It’s a battle, or at least a match, between two lefties—the quick Li Ming vs. Chang Li who Carl says “is easily the best woman player I’ve ever seen”—“I saw her go 5 minutes without missing a shot or making a tactical error in a crucial doubles match.”
“Li Ming knows the script,” but, as Chang is playing badly, Li has to lose the first two games “by literally jabbing ridiculously easy shots off.” But then she “must embarrassingly win the 3rd when she carelessly [sic] gets to 19-14 up. When Chang “comes through in fine exhibition style and walks off a well-applauded winner,” Carl says, “What does the crowd know anyway? What can they tell?”
Chang Li, never allowed to win the World’s, deserves this title—the more so because the Chinese say this will be her last season. [Not quite—apparently other Chinese feel she deserves a world title of some kind; so we’ll see her in Pyongyang.] She is a youthful, good-looking, and spirited 28, and is soon to be Li Chen-shih’s bride. Her retirement will be a loss to a lot of people—for she is one of the few Chinese players to have a real fan club.”
The Men’s final between Douglas and Yang (“a fair-haired-type lad as opposed to the vanquished, villainous Ku”) features “Yang’s attack vs. Douglas’s unmatchable quickness and touch.” In the 1st at 19-all, Des serves short, pokes the return off, and then loses the game on a big loop by Yang.” In the 2nd, “Douglas takes control by countering sharply, getting his topspin in first…and is up 15-10…19-16.” But then Yang “gets 3 big points on two service winners and a 3rd-ball kill,” and again it’s 19-all. Then 20-all. Now, though, Des serves and loops in, and Yang “misses an easy forehand.”
`”In the 3rd, with Douglas quick looping and angling off backhands no mortal can reach, Yang is quickly 10-3 out of it….Des has a very fast, newly developed backhand loop right off the bounce which he’s devastatingly snapping cross-court to right-hander Yang’s deep forehand, so that once away from the table Yang (even if he can get to the ball) is in serious trouble. Des loops him from side to side then finishes the point with a placement kill or a high, spinny cross-court forehand loop that breaks away from Yang’s hoped-for contact point.”
“The Chinese is intensely counseled at the 2-1 break—with Liang Ke-liang joining his coach to make one formidable brain trust. Or maybe not so formidable—for Yang is down 17-9 and can’t recover. “Then one final loop at 20-16, accompanied by a great leap from Des, and a chorus from the delirious crowd, and Douglas has the title.”
China, however, will win the Men’s Doubles from Douglas and Jarvis. “Liang is the difference—he’s all over the place, serving, looping, now chopping the ball in half, now floating it, always hitting the correct shot. It isn’t the racket either—Liang could beat world-class players with sandpaper.” Carl says he had a look at Liang’s paddle “(the Chinese are very good about that—all you need do is politely ask) and found soft long pimples over some sort of black sponge on one side and very spinny inverted on the other. He likes a big handle (when asked, he showed his big hand) and a racket that weighs about 6 ounces. Liang usually plays inverted on the forehand, but (as a generation of frustrated internationals can tell you) is capable of switching at any time. His serves (very simple motions really) are deadly, as he switches the racket underneath the table and then brings up…who knows what?”
The Mixed Doubles is seen as a remarkable triumph for England—in the final, Douglas/Linda Howard, former European Junior Mixed Champs, defeat Liang/Chang Li. from 19-all in the 5th. “Liang serves, Des rolls, and they play a long countering point, with Linda’s flat backhand finally forcing a Chinese error. Des then dramatically kills in Liang’s 20-19 serve for the title. How many players could ever conceive of trying that?”
Rumanian Open
Immediately after the Welsh Open, the Chinese went to Bucharest to play in the Feb. 10-12 Rumanian Open. Results: Men’s Team: China I over West Germany. Women’s Team: China I over China II. Men’s Singles: Final: Liang Ke-liang over Wang Chien-chiang. Semi’s: Liang over Jochen Leiss; Wang over Jacques Secretin. Women’s Singles: Pak Yong Ok over Chang Li. Men’s Doubles: Liang/Wang over Anton Stipancic/Damir Jurcic. Women’s Doubles: Yeng Kuai-li/Li Ming over Chang Li/Li Shu-ying. Mixed Doubles: Liang/Li Ming over Secretin/Bergeret.
Chinese National’s
As a result of the 1978 Chinese National Championships, held in April in Foochow, Fukien Province, the Champions are: Men’s Singles: Shih Chih-hao, a 19-year-old shakehander, over Defending Champ Guo Yue-hua early in the competition, then over Lu Jao-hua in the final. Women’s Singles: Shanghai’s 16-year-old penholder Huang Hsi-ping who successfully defended her title over Peking’s Yen Kue-li. Men’s Doubles: Teng Yi/Lu Jao-hua over Huang Tung-sheng/Wei Ching-sheng. Women’s Doubles: Huang Hsi-ping/Li Ming over Tsao Yen-hua/Yu Chin-chia (Tsao, however, won the deciding 5th match to allow Shanghai to take the Women’s Team title). Mixed Doubles: Li Chen-shih/Chang Te-ying over Cheng Chih-yi/Shen Chien-ping.
European Championships
D-J and He-ja Lee are of course playing in the German Leagues and so found it convenient and useful, for they took films and notes, to attend the European Championships held in Duisberg, Germany Mar. 10-19. D-J writes that though “thirty-one flags flew in time to the music, the dancers,” it was just one team that totally dominated. Hungary would “win the Men’s and Women’s Team Championships, the Men’s and Women’s Singles, would share the Men’s Doubles crown, and would be finalists in the Women’s and Mixed Doubles.”
D-J (who’s getting some help from He-ja, I presume with regard to the Women’s play, and plenty of editing help from me) begins with the Men’s Team’s and specifically the Hungary-Yugoslav tie in Group A of the two round robins. “Tibor Klampar opens against the young, new Yugoslav Zoran Kalinic, a Chinese-style penholder who for a time puts up some stiff -19, 11, -10 resistance. Kalinic is playing tie after tie in place of Anton “Tova” Stipancic, World runner-up in ’75 who can’t wait to get out of the army, lose some of the weight he’s put on, and begin serious training and playing again.”
Next up: European Top 12 winner Gabor Gergely against Dragutin Surbek who’s “committed from 1977-79 to playing in a German League (for, as one report has it, 50,000 marks a season)….Blocking Surbek’s loops first to his backhand then to his forehand, Gergely wins the 1st rather easily.” Down 19-16 in the 2nd, Surbek “winds up only to hit the ball on the edge of his racket,” and is match-point down. But he’s not lost yet…Down 20-19, he “pushes to the Hungarian’s backhand—where Gergely, waiting, steps in and backhands in a super-fast loop to win the game and the match.” Tie 2-0, Hungary.
Now another Hungarian win when 1975 World Champ Istvan Jonyer beats soon-to-be Canadian Champ Zoran “Zoki” Kosanovic, 2-1. The 4th match is Klampar vs. Surbek. “Klampar often makes easy points by pushing short, forcing Surbek to come to the table, and then smashing in to score. The Yugoslav just can’t flip the ball as well as his opponent, and since he isn’t returning the ball with any power, Klampar repeatedly seems to be in control. Only thing is: the Hungarian loses the 1st, 21-19. In the 2nd game, Klampar starts badly “and retreats into one of his ‘I don’t care’ moods.” Tie 3-1.
“Kalinic practices a lot with spinners and so controls the ball well against loopers like Jonyer. He often stop-blocks the ball amid exchanges, then fast loops to Jonyer’s forehand for the point. However, after losing the 1st, he’s down 20-17 match point. “But then the Yugoslav serves and follows with a devastating forehand loop, serves another that Jonyer can’t return, and scores with another forehand loop. Retaliating, Jonyer serves and takes an all-out forehand sidespin super swing that hurtles the ball in, after which Kalinic misses with a counter—and the match is over.” Hungary 4-Yugoslavia 1.
Kosanovic, “looping beautifully from both sides,” keeps Yugoslavia alive by building up a 14-5 lead in the 3rd against Gergely. With Hungary up 4-2, will Jonyer end it? His loops, especially off his backhand, are better than Surbek’s, so, after taking the 1st game at 19, he might be surprised to find himself down 13-11 in the 3rd. Now, though, following his serve, he “beautifully sidespin blocks Surbek’s forehand loop return, which Surbek, stretching, high-lobs back, whereupon, unable to power-smash it, Jonyer gets in a good strong topspin that drives Surbek to the barrier. From there he lofts a high, high hopping return that just misses. It’s the turning point in the match. Surbek just stands there for a moment shaking his head—as if he knows something we don’t…that he’s going to lose. And, sure enough, Jonyer takes 9 of the next 12 points to win the match and the tie for Hungary.”
Turns out Yugoslavia, the Defending Champion, doesn’t finish 2nd to Hungary, for they lose to France.
In the “B” Group, D-J covers the exciting England vs. West Germany tie. “Jochen Leiss, the ’77 U.S. Open winner, is up against Paul Day, England’s #2. Both are lefties—and since Leiss always plays well against left-handers he wins quite easily—which may send first-year university student Day back to thoughts of his Cambridge books.
That brings up Douglas and his opponent, Germany’s surprising new National Champion Engelbert Huging. Helped by his “combination Feint and Tackiness racket,” Engelbert is up 20-14 in the 3rd. D-J says, “Huging runs faster than any other player in Germany, and as this match goes on seems stronger and stronger. He scores by deceptively flipping his racket as he chops and Douglas often can’t read his spin.” Huging wants to finish spectacularly, so he quickly takes a smack at two balls and misses with both. A wee bit careless. Douglas perseveres, deuces it up. At 21-all, Huging serves another of his “specials”—bends his knees down and hides the racket under the table so Douglas can’t see which side he’s serving with. “But Des returns the ball low. Then, after one temporizing push, the “Black Flash” (as he’s called in Jamaica, the country of his birth) fast-topspins into the German’s middle and wins the point. Douglas serves a long fast topspin to Huging’s forehand, follows with three more fast topspins, then drops to the forehand. Huging dashes in, picks—and misses. The Germans of course are disappointed. But Douglas is ecstatic.” He’s on his way to the best tournament of his life.
In the next match, Wilfried Lieck, one of the world’s best blockers (“he lost 19 in the 5th to former World Champion Stellan Bengtsson at the last World’s”), is too good for Jarvis. But then Douglas, though lefthanded, is too steady for Leiss, so that ties up the tie.
Lieck returns, is too much for Day—day or night. “Huging likes Jarvis’s slow topspin—it gives him plenty of time to cleverly flip his oh so confusing racket—and poor Nicky cannot tell one ball from another: he hits off or puts the ball into the net. Germany 4—England 2.
Now it’s Lieck vs. Douglas and they’re into the 3rd. “Most points are started with pushes, then Douglas backhand flips one and a counter game is started.” Douglas eventually wins it, 21-19.
“Leiss figures to beat Jarvis. In the 1st, the German’s 1.5 mm. Super Turbo on the backhand is dead, dead, dead, and so every time Jarvis tries to exchange, the ball goes into the net. In the 2nd, however, Jarvis is up 20-16. Leiss serves short to the backhand and Nicky flips it off. Follows by losing one on the exchange, 20-18. Leiss serves a high toss-up serve and flat-loops in the return. Then Jarvis misses a push. Deuce. The Englishman serves, fast-loops a 3rd-ball attack—which Leiss unexpectedly backhand flips back to Jarvis’s far forehand beyond his reach. Now it’s Leiss’s ad and his turn to serve. He backhand sidespins one and Jarvis pushes into Leiss’s forehand—a mistake, of course, for SMASH! Leiss sends it cross-court in, and wins his sixth straight point, the game, the match, and the tie for Germany.”
England, despite losing this tie, didn’t lose another and so won their “B” Group. Germany, despite their win over England, didn’t advance to the criss-cross semi’s—they couldn’t get by Sweden or Russia. Sweden—“with Kjell Johansson trying to help as best he could, not as a player but as a coach, lost not only to England but to Russia,” so Russia with just the one loss advanced.
In the one cross-over semi’s, Hungary had an easy 5-1 win over Russia whose Sarkis Sarkojan barely beat Jonyer 22-20 in the 3rd. In the other semi’s, the tie between England and France was very close—though it figured France would get off to the 2-0 lead it did when Patrick Birocheau beat John Hilton, and Jacques Secretin stopped Jarvis. The French then went on to split the next two matches: Douglas “Black-Flashed” by Christian Martin, “the recent Hungarian Open winner”; and Secretin “came through against Hilton, a new and often very effective team player who cleverly mixes up his chops and hits and who, by taking 2 matches from both the Russians and the Swedes, had been of invaluable assistance in getting England this far.”
Down 3-1, England rallies—Douglas downs Birocheau; and Jarvis wins a big one from Martin. Tie tied. “Usually Douglas doesn’t play well against Secretin, but this tournament he’s red hot—hasn’t lost a single match. And he doesn’t lose this one either. England’s only one match away from the final.” Can Jarvis beat Birocheau? He certainly gains confidence by winning the 1st, 21-19. Now Birocheau is even more nervous than he was before. D-J says, “Eight times, I counted, he hit the ball on the edge of his racket. Jarvis doesn’t have to do anything—he just pushes and Birocheau misses. Incredible. So almost miraculously it seems, England has reached the final against Hungary.
No, the English can’t beat the Hungarians. But Douglas continues his sensational play—beats Jonyer, beats Gergely, beats Klampar. None of them could take the offense from Des—they said because “the ball was too light.” Everybody agreed, though, that the undefeated Douglas was the best player in this Team play. D-J expects him to be ranked #2 in Europe for 1978. “After Gergely beats Jarvis in 3 to win the tie for Hungary, he jumps, hands held high, then runs to his teammates and Coach Zoltan Berczik and all share congratulatory kisses. Boy, were they happy!”
In the Women’s Team Championship, the “A” Group winner is Rumania, “thanks to the fine play of the dour-looking, seemingly ageless, two-time World Women’s Doubles Champion Maria Alexandru.” Defending Champion Russia with pretty, young Valentina Popova, “a hitter and strong counter attacker,” came second, largely because Popova “proved much too weak against the mix-‘em-up chopper Alexandru.” The “B” Group winner is Hungary, even though they lost to Sweden.” The Czechs finished second.
In the one criss-cross semi’s, it’s Hungary over Russia, 3-1; and, in the other, Czechoslovakia over Rumania, 5-3. The final went to Hungary, as expected (though their Team hadn’t won since 1966). They blanked the Czechs—“helped by the very strong penholder play of Judit Magos.”
Results of the 8th’s matches in the Men’s Singles: “Secretin (seeded #1) lost to Douglas, 3-1—didn’t even 21-7 try toward the end of the last game.” The Czech Dvoracek beat Leiss, then lost to Klampar. “Jonyer, keeping control throughout, downed Kunz, 3-1.” Czechoslovakia’s Orlowski blitzed France’s Martin. “A relatively new Hungarian chopper, Tibor Kreisz, who has long pips (Grass) on one side of his racket and 1.0 mm. Sriver on the other, upset Surbek, 3-2, when the Yugoslav had lots and lots of trouble with the long pips.” Lieck did in Birocheau, 3-1. Gergely (seeded #2) drew Janos Takacs, his BVSC clubmate, “so naturally this lesser-light wasn’t upset-minded and didn’t try very hard.”
In the one remaining 8th’s, “the Bengtsson-Sarkhojan match, the Swede is down 2-1 in games and 19-18 down in the 4th when he makes a point and suddenly stops the match and begins talking to Coach Johansson. Nobody knows what’s happening, least of all Sarkhojan. [Today, as I write, Bengtsson would have been carded? Penalized? He’d have called Time?] Then Stellan walks to the scoreboard and changes the score from 19-19 to 20-18, Sarkhojan’s favor. The last point was the Russian’s, he says…the ball hit the edge of the table. Whereupon the audience claps for Bengtsson’s sportsmanship….Spurred on by his own action and the audience’s reaction to it, he deuces it up. But then can’t win it—loses the next two points, and is out of the tournament.
Now the quarter’s: Douglas and Klampar are 1-1 but the Hungarian’s up 18-12 in the 3rd and “trying to quickly finish off the points. But every time they fast-exchange, Douglas wins the point.” Wins so many, in fact, that the final score is 21-19 for the Englishman. “Klampar, shaken, goes back, talks to his coach [not Berczik but former World Champion Ferenc Sido; Klampar and Berczik have problems?], disagrees with him. He comes back out to the table and loses the 4th, 21-11.”
“Jonyer, piling up points with his strong forehand loop, leads Sarkhojan 2-0—but he looks tired and begins waiting for the Russian to lose heart and make mistakes. When Sarkhojan doesn’t, the match is all tied up. But now Jonyer fights back hard and scores the win.”
“Orlowski is very good against loopers and counter-attack players, but the Hungarian chopper Kreisz and his long pips take their toll. In the 1st, Orlowski leads 20-17, but Kreisz digs in, and pick-hits the Czech’s drop shot…and wins it, 23-21. That finishes Orlowski.”
“Gergely is on his toes against the crafty blocker Lieck…wins 3-0.”
In the one semi’s, “Jonyer slowly begins to get his timing just right and repeatedly scores with fast loops to Douglas’s middle.” Des is tired and it shows. “Whereas in the Team event Douglas would counter hard back to Jonyer’s forehand, now he just hasn’t the strength to be aggressive, and loses in 4. In the other semi’s, the Hungarian Kreisz goes down to the Hungarian Gergely, 3-zip. D-J says, “I don’t think they played very hard.”
Jonyer had beaten Gergely in the final of the Hungarian Closed. Would he do the same here? “In their 1st game, neither player seems to want to extend himself. Finally, at 16-all or so, Gergely gets in a 5-point spurt to win. In the 2nd, both players still look bad. Again, at 17-all, Gergely pulls off a last-minute 4-point ssurge. At this point, the spectators begin to ‘Boo! Boo!’ They want to see a better final.” But they’re not going to. “In the 3rd, Jonyer still doesn’t try hard…is down 19-6. Yes, it’s a really bad final. Sido, Jonyer’s Spartacus Club Coach, has bowed his head. Terrible! Terrible! Gergely raises his arms in victory—it’s his first European Singles title. Some thought him fortunate to have drawn 3 Hungarians in his late-round matches.”
In the Women’s, Defending Champion Jill Hammersley had no problem reaching the final. But the #2 seed, Bettine Vriesekoop of the Netherlands, and the #3 seed, Valentina Popova of the Soviet Union, are both upset by choppers. That left two Hungarians to see who’d join Hammersley in the final. Penholder Judit Magos had come all the way from a Qualifying Round to meet Gabriella Szabo, “who, after they split the first two games, has her teammate 20-10 down in the 3rd. And now what do you think happens? Magos, with considerable help from Szabo, wins 12 in a row to take the game, and then the next game, and the match. Szabo may want to prove she’s the better player, but it’s thought her coach believes that Magos can beat Hammersley, but Szabo can’t.
And he has a point, because Jill’s a defensive specialist and Magos has beaten 1-2-3 choppers on her way to this final. D-J says that, “since Judit has a very strong forehand loop,” he and He-ja “feel sure she’ll win.” After Hammersley loses the 1st, “she changes her game a bit—begins mixing her chops more and hitting more.” Still, she’s down 18-16 when she gets lucky—a net and then an edge that help her tie up the match. However, in the 3rd, “Magos, looping and dropping to both corners, controls the game. Moreover, the Hungarian is looping harder now so Jill can’t hit as much.” Magos finishes her, 21-18, 21-13.
“So Magos, who won the event in 1974, is again the Champion. She kisses, she hugs, she kisses Szabo and then both start to cry and then the coach cries too. Sounds a bit silly here maybe,” says D-J, “but at the time I was touched too.”