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1959 Local Brummana Tournament

Men's singles ½ f – Karim Fawaz d Jo Jabbour 1210 63 62; Fathy Mohammed Ali Mobarak (Egypt) d Youssef Zeydane 61 60 60; Final : Mobarak d K Fawaz 62 64 61;

Men's Doubles ½ : Fawaz-E Samuel (also known then as E. Eddé) d E Yazbeck-E Attieh 68 64 62 36 62; Mobarak-Wadih Fawaz d Jabbour-Sauma 75 36 64; Final : Fawaz-E Samuel d Mobarak-W Fawaz 60 64 64;

Ladie singles final : S Tabbarah d K Hussussian 64 57 64;

Juniors under 18 Boys : K Fawaz d Edouard Samuel 75 108; Girls under 18 : Rose Menassa d Nemat Baz 63 64;

International Tournament August 16.

Men's Singles: 1st rd : J E Lundquist d Youssef Zeydane (Leb) 61 60; Ulf Schmidt d Edouard Samuel (Leb) 62 61; Bob Howe d Raymond Anid (Leb) 61 60; Beppe Merlo (Italy) d Joe Jabbour (Leb) 63 62; Luis Ayala d Tietjin 62 60; Mark Otway (NZ) d Karim Fawaz (Leb) 62 61; Alan Mills (GB) d Ernesto Aguirre (Chile) 62 62; Peter Scholl d Reizakis 64 63; Lew Gerrard (NZ) d Nik Kalyvas (Greece) 62 64; ….. Also present in these early rounds were Branovic (Yug), Fathy M Ali Mobarak of Egypt, Canellopoulos of Greece.

2nd rd : Howe d Panagopoulos 61 61; Merlo d Otway 62 62; Couder d Scholl 63 63; Schmidt d Gerrard 63 64;

¼ f : Nicola Pietrangeli (Italy) d Alan Mills (GB) 75 64; Bob Howe (Australia) d Ulf Schmidt (Sweden) 63 60; Juan Manuel Couder (Spain) d Beppe Merlo (Italy) 86 61; Jan Erik Lundquist (Sweden) d Luis Ayala (Chile) 79 86 63;

½ f : Howe d Pietrangeli 75 16 63 46 63; Lundquist d Couder 97 26 61 62;

Final : Jan Erik Lundquist (Swed) d Bob Howe (A) 75 61 64

Ladies Singles : 1st rd : J. Rook d Rise 61 64; ¼ f : P. Nettleton d Rook (GB) 61 61; R Ostermann d Linda Vail (US) 62 63;

½ f ; Renate Ostermann (Germany) d Paule Courteix (Fr) 63 61; Lea Pericoli (It) d Pat Nettleton 61 06 62;

Final : Lea Pericoli d R Ostermann 63 62;

Mixed : ½ f : Nettleton-L Gerrard d Linda Vail-Otway (US-N Z) 61 75; Ostermann-P Scholl d Pericoli-Howe 97 46 63;

Final = Ostermann-Scholl d Nettleton-Gerrard 63 62

Men's doubles ¼ f : Gerrard-Otway (N Z) d Ayala-Aguirre (Chile) 61 79 75; A Mills-Scholl d Schmidt-Lundquist 63 63; ½ f : Howe-Couder d Gerrard-Otway 62 62; Pietrangeli-Merlo d Mills-Scholl 62 64;

Final : Pietrangeli-Merlo d Howe-Couder 57 64 64 86

• The elegant Pietrangeli was that summer the very champion of Rolan-Garros, a tournament which he will win again in 1960. Ayala was having a great season and after having won the Italian title,played the final at Roland-Garros in …. was the favorite at Brummana because of his earlier results. End 1959, Pietrangeli will be ranked world no 3, while Ayala will reach the world no 5 ranking. The simultaneous defeats of these two real "best Ten in the world"(in fact best 5 then) players in Brummana was a real tennis shocker and reported internationally in the tennis world.


• The lazy-looking but efficient Indian Krishnan had beaten Australian no 2 Laver in Davis Cup.


• Bob Howe was one of the very rare ambidextrous tennis players in history, using both hands at will (except for the serve)


• In Istanbul, Luis Ayala had dominated the singles, winning the final over Ray Weedon of South Africa.


• The New Zealand no 1, Lew Gerrard had won the British Hard Courts (in fact Clay !) 3 months ago, beating the South African no 1 Gordon Forbes in the ½ f.- and the promising British lefty Billy Knight in the final, after losing the first two sets = 36 26 62 75 97.


• The supreme leader of the "Kataëb", largest right wing Christian political party in Lebanon, Education, works and Sports Minister Pierre Gemayel, attended the finals.