Steele, Peckham Cop Title

Chum Steele and Dan Peckham survived the first round match and went on to win the doubles championship in Sunday's finals of the New England Indoor Tennis tournament at Westport, Conn.

The two Crimson racquetmen were pressed hard in their opening match by Nick Sharry and Jerry Shobin, two Connecticut amateurs, but managed to eke out a 6-3, 11-9 victory.

From there they coasted to a 6-1, 6-1 quarter-finals win, and disposed of fellow Harvardmen Frank Ripley and Clive Kileff 6-3, 6-4 in the semis.

Steele and Peckham captured the title with a 6-4, 7-5 win over locals Sid Shapiro and Stewart Fiedelson, their fourth straight triumph in straight sets.

Steele also competed in the singles competition and put up a stirring fight against second-seeded Henri Salaun in the quarter-finals before bowing 7-5, 7-5.

In both sets Steele held 5-4 leads in games with his service coming up, but each time Saaun broke through, held his own service and then broke Steele's serve a second time for the win.

The second best performance by a Crimson singles player came from Ripley, who lost out in the third round to eventual finalist Keith Barker of New York City.

Top-seeded Tony Vincent clipped Barker for the singles crown.