Former Rover boy John Tremaine had mixed fortunes in the Westcliff Hardcourts open junior tournament finals.

Westcliff-based Tremaine beat Richard Harvey 6-1 6-5 to claim the under-16 boys' singles title but was beaten 7-5 6-2 in the under-18 event by Robert Gordon.

Lucy Freeman enjoyed success in the girls' under-16 final by beating Claire Moseley 6-1 0-6 6-3.

And Lucy kept up her winning form by defeating Claire in the under-18 final 6-4 6-2.

The under-ten boys singles title went to Daniel Bagguley who saw off Faris Aklazzan 6-2 6-1.

In the under-12 girls' singles Jemma Chittecks emerged victorious over Helen Parrish after three sets. Jemma won 6-3 3-6 6-0.

Westcliff Hardcourts had a 6-2 sets win over Thorpe Bay in the Southend and District mixed veterans league.

The winning line-up featured Bernard Horwood, Sue Blackshaw, Terry Hooper and Drucie Redman, while the defeated Bay team consisted of Graham Ray, Chris Newbury, club chairman Mike Baggs and Sharon Sedgewick.

Southend and District have set up the mixed doubles league to fill the gap between the Leigh and Westcliff LTA summer and winter seasons. Matches are played over two sets.

Westcliff Hardcourts' ladies comfortably defeated Langdon Park 12 sets to six in Essex Division Three. Drucie Redman, Jacqui Barton, Esther, Juliette Harvey, Sue Hookway and Brenda Corlett made up the team which beat the East Enders.

The ladies from Westcliff Lawn whitewashed Chelms-ford-based Grove 17-1 in Essex Division One. It was 17-0 but the Lawn side dropped the final set.

The team featured Hazel Wynn, Lynsey Watt, Diane Carradus, Karen Rivers, Jill Sanderson and Sarah O'Sullivan.

Essex have set themselves up for their first over-45 men's county championship title after defeating Kent 5-0.

The comfortable win means that if the Essex team can beat Middlesex later in the year they will take the title.

Westcliff Hard players Ashley Compton-Dando and John Handelaar were in the Essex side which beat the men from across the Thames.

June Pearce, a member of Westcliff Lawn, was in the Essex ladies over-60 side which lost 3 to against Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Southend and District LTA chairman and Hardcourts member Bob Hammond was part of the Essex team which beat West of Scotland 3-2 in the county over-55 championship.

Going up in the world - John Tremaine leaps up for a shot during the under-16 boys' final

Picture: MAXINE CLARKE

Pooles make a splash at Wickford finals day

Karen and Ken Poole stole the show at Wickford's finals day - but for very different reasons.

Karen won the ladies' singles for the tenth time and set a new club record in the process. No other player has achieved the feat since Wickford's records began in 1935.

Her husband finally broke his duck in the men's singles by winning the event after 18 years of trying.

Karen beat Claire Bullman in the ladies' singles 6-1 6-1 while Ken needed three sets to defeat Paul Wallace 3-6 7-5 6-2 to take the men's title.

Paul and Derek Lugg beat Cliff Warrick and Mike Angel 6-4 6-7 7-5 in a closely-fought men's doubles.

And Claire consoled herself after her singles defeat by winning the ladies' doubles with Glynnis Exley. They beat Sandy Ellis and Isobel Crawford 7-6 6-1.

The Colin Young mixed doubles went to Isobel and Dave Crawford thanks to a 6-4 5-7 6-4 victory over Tricia Goddard and Dave Thornhill.

Sandy Ellis and Dave teamed up to win the Garbett Cup with a 6-2 6-4 result over Claire Bullman and Bob Chapman.

Juniors get set for championship

Junior tennis players from across the county will be flocking to Thorpe Bay at the end of the month for the Essex junior championship.

It is the 26th consecutive year that the event has been held at the seafront club and the organisers are expecting the standard of tennis to be as high as ever.

The competition starts on August 28 with age group events for under-tens, 12s, 14s, 16s, 18s and 21s.

There will be singles events for all six age groups with boys, girls and mixed doubles in many categories.

The finals will be held on September 2 when the youngsters will hope to follow in the footsteps of previous winners, including David, John and Tony Lloyd, Mark Petchey and Christine Truman.

Spectators will be welcome throughout the tournament and refreshments will be available thanks to Thorpe Bay Lawn Tennis Club, which is running the event.

l Westcliff Lawn is gearing up for its 41st open junior tournament, which starts on August 21 at the London Road club.

The event will see youngsters aged up to under-18 level taking part and aiming to make the finals, which will be played at the club on August 26.

Play-off bonanza in Cup matches

Invicta and Thorpe Bay's Jubilee Cup match went right down to the wire after both teams won a rubber each.

But in a play-off set Thorpe Bay emerged victorious to go through.

Invicta's Andy Deeming and Terry Prior defeated Bay's John Blackman and Tim Padbury 6-3 7-5 to set the ball rolling.

Yet Bryan Jenkinson and Trevor Brown levelled for Bay by beating Chris Smith and Andrew Tanner 6-1 7-6.

Tim and Trevor won the play-off by beating Andy and Chris 6-4.

St Peters and Crowstone also needed a play-off to sort out their mixed doubles game.

Crowstone's Christine Tannock and Paul Bundock beat Angela Sangster and John Easton 3-6 6-7 before Saints duo Shirley Easton and Don Edmonds took the second rubber 6-3 6-4 by beating Don Smith and Kitty Livingstone.

Angela and Don had a comfortable play-off win, beating Don and Christine 6-1.

Hockley went through in the mixed competition after Nicola Edwards and Pat Townsley won their play-off against Rayleigh's Nicky Savage and Judy Barham 6-2.

Earlier Nicky and Lesley Moores recorded a 6-0 6-2 success over Pat and Ros McGeehan.

Then Hockley's Nicola and Ilean Eley fought back by defeating Judy and Pat Smith 6-2 6-4.

Westcliff Lawn had a straight sets win over Southend Lawn in the men's doubles.

Rob Hunter and Dave Coates beat Graham Wells and Alan Worsdale 6-2 7-5, while Martin Liu and Jasper Grootners defeated Alan Heffer and Kevin Barrs 6-4 6-2.

Southend Lawn reversed the tables in the ladies' doubles with a straight sets win over Westcliff Lawn.

Heather Bell and Stephanie Bell saw off Helen Broadway and Rita Sprogis 6-3 6-2 before Caroline Willis and Sandy Bysouth wrapped things up be defeating Sue McMahon and Chris Britt 6-3 6-4.

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