Hilda Lane (1877 – 17 December 1916) was an English tennis player active during the first decade and a half of the 20th century.

Career

Between 1902 and 1914 she participated in the single event of the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...

and achieved her best result in her first appearance in 1902 when she reached the quarterfinal in which eventual champions Muriel Robb beat her in straight sets. In 1914 she also competed in the doubles event with Madeline O'Neill but lost in the first round. In 1902 she won the all-comer's tournament at the Kent Championships after her opponent Edith Greville retired at one set all but subsequently lost the challenge round match against Dorothea Douglass. The challenge round match was postponed from 14 June to 5 July due to rain. In 1903 she took part in the East Grinstead Open tennis tournament held at the

East Grinstead East Grinstead () is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the northeast corner of the county, bord ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

she would win the title eight times from (1903–1906, 1908, 1911–1913). In 1905 she defeated Gladys Eastlake Smith in the singles final of the

British Covered Court Championships The British Covered Court Championships (BCCC) was an indoor tennis event held from 1885 through 1971 and played in London, England. The tournament dates fluctuated between October and March. History For its first five years the tournament was hel ...

, played on wood courts at the

Queen's Club The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in Barons Court, West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "HSBC Championships" for spo ...

in London. The following year, 1906, she lost her title in the challenge round to Dorothea Douglass. In August 1913 she was runner-up at the Derbyshire Championships in

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

, losing the final to

Ethel Thomson Larcombe Ethel Larcombe (née Ethel Warneford Thomson, 8 June 1879 – 11 August 1965) was a British female tennis player and badminton player. She won the ladies' singles tennis title at the 1912 Wimbledon Championships as well as 11 badminton titles ...

in straight sets. Her other career singles highlights include winning the Norfolk Championships five times (1909-11, 1913-14), and the Mid-Kent Championships three times (1898-1900).

Personal

She was the daughter of Wilmot Lane, a barrister-at-law who had been a civil servant in India having been appointed to the Bengal civil service in 1854, in 1877 around the time of Hilda's birth he was a civil and sessions judge based at Moradbad, Uttar Pradesh, and the sister of tennis player

Elsie Lane Elsie Lane was an English tennis player active during the last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century. She was the daughter of Wilmot Lane, a barrister-at-law who had been a civil servant in India. She played freque ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Hilda British female tennis players 1877 births 1916 deaths Date of death missing Place of birth missing British sportspeople in British India 20th-century English sportswomen