WHITBECK OF LOOMIS WINS SCHOOLBOY TENNIS TITLE

By taking the fifth set of his match with Charles Watson of Andover J. F. W. Whitbeck of Loomis won the Harvard Interscholastic tennis championship yesterday afternoon for the second time and succeeded in tieing his school with Andover for first place in the school championship Both men will graduate from their respective schools this year and intend to enter college next fall; Whitbeck plans to join the class of 1927 at the University, while Watson will go to Yale.

It was the first time in his scholastic career that Whitbeck had been forced to five sets to win, for the encounter yesterday afternoon was anybody's match throughout the first four frames, although in the fifth the long strain obviously began to tell on Watson. The two contenders were thoroughly familiar with each other's game, however, for this is the third year that the Andover man has been runner-up in the tournament.

Find Semi-Finals Easy

The two finalists had little difficulty in reaching the last round, for yesterday morning Whitbeck defeated Alfred Turner of Newton High 6-1, 6-0, while Watson disposed of his school-mate W. B. Evans 6-4, 6-4. The story of the afternoon's contest, however, was not so straightforward, as can easily be seen from the final score: 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, 2-6, 6-1.

Watson Tires at End

In this type of game Whitbeck had a distinct advantage, since he was able in the end to break down Watson's endurance. Thus in the last set the Andover player's flashes of brilliance were repeatedly marred by his inability to control his shots. In the final game of the match, which he lost at love, Watson served no less than three double faults.

In the matter of lobs Whitbeck was by far the superior, since he was able to land most of his high shots just inside the back-tape with unerring regularity. The larger total of unexpected returns and swift placements, however, went to Watson. The latter at all times proved somewhat the more uneven of the two, although this slight discrepancy could doubtless be attributed to the unusual steadiness which was the outstanding characteristic of Whitbeck's game.

Each Score 14

Thesignificance of the match was considerably increased by the fact that in winning it Whitbeck added enough to the Loomis score to enable his school to tie Andover for first place with 14 points. Had Watson triumphed, his victory would have given Andover the championship by a large margin.

Next in point score came Newton High with a total of eight, while Woonsocket High and Exeter trailed side by side with one apiece.

Several additional schools also acquired points, but their scores were not counted inasmuch as they resulted from defaulted matches.