Sylvia Lance

Sylvia Lance Harper was a female tennis player from Australia who won the singles title at the 1924 Australian Championships. She reached the singles final there two other times, in 1927, losing to Esna Boyd Robertson, and in 1930, losing to Daphne Akhurst Cozens.
Sylvia was the daughter of Charles Carey Lance [1859-1934], an engineer and Louisa Christie Fuller (1865-1933), a singer and artist. The Lance family lived at ‘Hillcrest’ 26-28 Woodward Avenue Strathfield from c.1897-1905 and then moved to ‘Steephurst’ 22-24 Albyn Road Strathfield.

Harper won the women's doubles title at the Australian Championships three consecutive years. In 1923, her partner was Robertson, and in 1924 and 1925, her partner was Cozens. She reached the final an additional three times with three different partners, in 1927, 1929, and 1930. She also won the mixed doubles title in 1923 with Horace Rice and was the runner-up in that event in 1925.

According to A. Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Harper was ranked World No. 10 in 1924, the only year she was included in those rankings.

Harper competed overseas on two occasions; in 1920 she competed at Wimbledon and, in 1925, captained the first women's tennis team to represent Australia internationally. At Wimbledon, she made the second round of the ladies singles, where she lost to Dorothy Shepherd, the ladies doubles, where she partnered Daphne Akhurs and the mixed doubles, where she partnered E. T. Lamb.

She married Robert Rainy Harper (on May 28 1924), a colonel in the army. After her marriage, she continued to play competitive tennis. Her last known title is 1930 as runner up at the Australian Open in the category of women’s singles and her husband past away in 1941.