Melbourne Preview?

The shuttle-eyed tennis fans who jammed Forest Hills' ivy-hung stadium this week were all but sitting inside a crystal ball. It was like seeing into next December at Melbourne. There, if talent is a measure, Australia and the U.S. will meet for possession of the Davis Cup, held by the Aussies since 1950. Unless (unlikely) the Americans are eliminated in an earlier Cup round, the U.S. mainstays should be Wimbledon Champion Vic Seixas, 30, and Tony Trabert, 23. Opposing them will be Australia's teen-age prodigies, Ken Rosewall and Lewis Hoad, both 18. In this week's semifinals of the National Singles tournament, the two Americans confronted the two Australians.

To get there, some of the Big Four had their rough moments: Swedish Champion Sven Davidson caught Ken Rosewall on an erratic day and forced him to go five sets to win. Steady Vic Seixas repeated his Wimbledon finals victory over Denmark's Kurt Nielsen only after wavering before the Dane's superb volleying and dropping a set. Although young Lew Hoad sank Gardnar Mulloy, the grand old (39) man of U.S. tennis, in straight sets, Mulloy, in a sprightly burst of lost youth, carried the third to 11-9. Grinning wryly, Mulloy croaked: "I should have been playing his father."

If victory was too much to ask from a man of Mulloy's years, was it also too big an order for young Rosewall and Hoad? The semifinals seemed to produce a firm answer. In top physical shape, thanks to Coach Harry Hopman's strict meat-and-sleep training rules, the Australians nonetheless sometimes seemed mentally over-wound, as if their play had become work. Facing powerful Lew Hoad, whose service is one of the fastest in amateur tennis, Vic Seixas showed the same flair for court tactics he demonstrated this year at Wimbledon. It was a net-rushing struggle, but in the end Seixas won in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4. That left it up to Ken Rosewall to prevent the first all-American finals in the National since 1950. Armed with cunning and the best backhand among amateurs, little (5 ft. 7 in., 145 lbs.) Ken fought a war of maneuver from the baseline. But Trabert's cannonading returns took a steady toll. Rosewall, too, went down in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3. For the moment, at least, Australia's grip on the U.S. singles crown was unclenched.

Next day Tony Trabert outhit Vic Seixas to take a personal grip on the title.

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