It Was Anybody's Championship—until A Mexican With A Deft Touch Made It His

Two rounds later, Ralston was eliminated by a poised, mature, sophisticated and unruffled young Brazilian of 22 named Ronnie Barnes, who on the tennis court seems to be everything Dennis Ralston is not.

Meanwhile, unsung and unseeded, Frank Froehling had scored the sensation of the tournament by deftly dispatching Roy Emerson in four sets, thereby eliminating the last of the six Australian male players before the quarter-finals. Although Emerson had not been playing well this year, his early form at Forest Hills (he had won his first three matches without losing a set) made many people think he was on his game again. But Froehling's big serve, the most powerful in tennis, was never better, and when Emerson had to face it the 1961 champion could only shake his head in disbelief as shot after shot from Froehling's racket sped past him. The score: Froehling, 6-4, 4-6, 9-7, 6-2.

After beating Emerson, Froehling almost came to grief against England's Bobby Wilson, a seasoned and very competent tournament player who was seeded sixth. Froehling somehow rallied to win the five-set match, gain the semifinals and beat Ronnie Barnes, hardly working up a sweat. Then came Osuna and a defeat that seemed inevitable once it got under way.

Few players at Forest Hills in the recent past have displayed shrewder generalship on the courts than the new Mexican champion of the U.S. It has been a long time since the lob was used as a weapon of high strategy in a national championship, but in both of his critical matches last week Osuna lobbed his way to victory with consummate skill. His lobs against McKinley when the latter was facing the sun forced so many errors that Chuck began to lose the confidence his game depends on. He made foolish mistakes—returning serves with dinky chipping shots that were so much chicken meat to the agile Osuna instead of smacking his returns across the net in true McKinley style.

It was hot in the stadium when Osuna went out against Froehling's battering power strokes. Many of the spectators had taken off their jackets, leaving a panorama of white shirts as a background for lobs. Osuna took full advantage of the situation.

Standing farther behind the baseline than any top player within memory, Osuna gave himself plenty of time to cope with Froehling's big serve. When one of these cannonballs came crashing over the net, he would catch it late and send it up in the air, time and again, against the backdrop of white shirts or high above the stadium, in the sun. Such tactics, besides breaking the strongest serve in tennis six times in three sets, effectively smashed U.S. hopes for a U.S. championship.