Doris Howard and her doubles partner, Josane Sigart, won the ladies doubles title at Wimbledon in 1932. The previous year the pair, seeded fourth, had been beaten by the unseeded British duo of Phyllis Mudford and Dorothy Shepherd-Barron after a hard-fought three-set match.

Doris Metaxa, as she was then, and Sigart, of Belgium, were again seeded fourth in 1932. In the first round they were drawn against Miss G. M. Healey and Miss W. A. James, of Britain, who came close to causing a great upset. The British pair took the first set comfortably at 6-2. The fourth seeds then recovered to take the second set 6-4, but then lost important points, finding themselves 2-5 down in the third set and facing three match points.

However, Metaxa and Sigart showed grit and determination to level the set and then take it 7-5.

The French and Belgian duo progressed smoothly through the rest of the competition, dispensing with Miss H. M. Lyle and Miss E. M. Dearman in an early round and then Miss B. C. Covell and Miss A. M. Yorke 6-0, 6-3 in the fourth round. In the semi-final they were up against the second seeds, Mrs P. Holcroft-Watson, twice a doubles winner, and Miss E. H. Harvey of Britain. They won the first set narrowly 7-5, but then swept through the second 6-2.

Unlike the previous year, Metaxa and Sigart had a night’s rest between their last two matches. This was probably just as well, as their opponents in the final were the American second seeds Miss E. Ryan and Miss Helen Jacobs. Perhaps fortified by a determination not to repeat the disappointment of 1931, the Europeans won the match fairly easily at 6-4, 6-3, with The Times reporting that “Miss Metaxa hit bravely and merrily” and that “she has a full-blooded swing which puts the ball out of danger”.

A week after the victory the engagement was announced between Metaxa and Peter Dunsmore Howard, who had played rugby for England eight times in 1930-31, including one match as captain.

After her marriage, Doris Howard played two Wimbledon finals — the mixed doubles in 1934 and the ladies doubles in 1935. Although unsuccessful in both these matches, in 1934 she won the doubles title at The Queen’s Club and at Hurlingham, in the latter match partnered by Shepherd-Barron to whom she had lost at Wimbledon three years earlier.

Doris Metaxa Howard, tennis player, born June 12, 1911. She died on September 7, 2007, aged 96