Wickford Tennis Club held its junior finals day at the weekend and if a trophy could have been awarded to the player with the worst luck it would have gone to Amy Dijkstra.

She was unable to play in the under-14 girls' final after breaking her arm while playing football and was forced to concede the match to Francesca Scagliosi, who picked up the winner's trophy.

The under-16 boys' final saw Paul Scaglioso beat Didier Ah-Kye 6-7 6-2 7-5.

It was the third year running the two had met in the final and the third time Didier had been forced to settle for the runner up position.

Fionnghuala Griggs defeated Karen Ringshall 6-2 6-2 to take the under-16 girls' crown.

In the under-14 boys' final Chris Hughes proved too strong for Daniel Braham-Everett in a closely-contested 6-4 7-5 match.

Paul and Didier were the favourites to win the doubles title, but under-14 champion Chris and partner Chris Osborn gave the under-16 finalists a run for their money before they were beaten in three sets.

Wickford's junior secretary Derek Greenwood said it had been a successful day which had seen good, if somewhat windy, weather conditions and plenty of good tennis.

Under-14 singles and doubles winner Chris Hughes in action

(Right) Paul Scagliosi reaches for the ball during the under-16 boys' final

Consolation - Daniel Braham-Everett was narrowly beaten 6-4 7-5 by Chris Hughes in the under 14 boys' final

Pictures STEPHEN LLOYD

Close-fought games are finals' hallmark

Invicta's Andy Deeming is the new Leigh and Westcliff LTA men's champion following a close-fought match.

Andy faced Westcliff Hardcourts player Bernard Horwood in the final where the Invicta man won 6-2 4-6 7-5.

Bernard showed determination by attacking at the net as often as possible, which paid dividends in the second set.

The Hardcourts player also had two match points in the third set, but Andy put in some good shots to stop them before he eventually won the match.

Louise Ferguson won her first Leigh and Westcliff ladies' singles title after defeating Leigh's Jo Baucutt 6-4 6-0.

The Thorpe Bay player is following the family tennis tradition as her mother Frances coaches at Thorpe Bay and her uncle, Graham Goodale, plays for Westcliff Lawn and Hardcourts.

The ladies' doubles final saw an evenly-contested match between Gail Webster and Mary Moxom from Kent Elms and Sue Levy and Linda Vaughan from Westcliff Hardcourts.

The Westcliff pair took the first set 6-3 before they lost the tie break and subsequently the second set 6-7.

However four strong shots from Sue in the final set gave them a 7-5 win and the trophy.

Later in the day the two pairs met again in the veteran ladies final which was again a closely-fought match. Sue and Linda won again, this time 7-5 6-4.

For the first time in 50 years two pairs from Kent Elms contested the men's doubles finals - Pat Taylor and Terry Savage versus Bryan Bone and Nigel White.

The tension that is always present when clubmates face each other in competition was evident in the first set, an evenly-matched affair which Pat and Terry took 7-6.

However, they overcame the inter-club pressure in the second set to win 6-3 and claim the final.

Caron Fuller was regarded as the outstanding player of the tournament by Leigh and Westcliff chiefs and received her reward when the partnered fellow Westcliff Hardcourts member Bernard Horwood in the mixed doubles.

Bernard's third final of the day was the veterans' men's doubles, where he partnered Westcliff Hardcourts team-mate Martin Jeffrey to a 6-3 4-6 6-0 win over Rayleigh's Roger Chambers and Phil Alderton.

They beat Pat Taylor (Kent Elms) and Lesley Moores (Rayleigh) 6-3 6-3 in the mixed doubles.

The men's singles plate was won by Westcliff Hardcourt's Mark Oswald, who beat Invicta's Alf Katona 6-2 7-6.

The men's doubles plate was won by Ian Thorpe (Hockley) and David Bishop (Westcliff Hardcourts) who beat Bob Chapman and Stewart Clark from Wickford 6-1 7-6.

Westcliff Lawn's Sue Blainey and Wendy Bristow defeated Wickford's Sandra Ellis and Claire Bullman 6-1 6-4 in the ladies' doubles plate.

Roger Chambers and Mave Blewett (both Rayleigh) enjoyed a 6-3 6-2 win over Hockley's Jan Thorpe and Pat Townsley in the mixed doubles plate.

Carey Willson has been spending the week competing in a European over-40 championship in Nice, France. Carey plays for Westcliff Hardcourts.

Hazel's team get the Wynn

There were no awayday blues for Westcliff Lawn's veteran ladies team when they travelled to Aldersbrook in Essex Division Four.

The Lawn ladies beat the Wanstead-based team six sets to two.

Hazel Wynn and Janet Clappen won four sets, while Lesley Pitt and Andrea Spillett secured another two to make sure of the win.

Youngsters defeated

Westcliff Hardcourts second team's youth came unstuck when they met Connaught's first team in Essex League Division Two.

The Chingford-based team defeated the Westcliff players 9-0.

"This was a team of youngsters who were given their opportunity against a very strong Connaught team," said a spokesman for the Hardcourts.

"They were far too strong for them."

Trevor Stone, Mark Bertola, Mark Hammerman, Temple Ray, Matt Robinson and Robert Hanson represented the Hardcourts.

Thorpe quartet enjoy victory

Thorpe Bay enjoyed a 3-1 events win over Westcliff Lawn in Southend and District League Division One in a closely-fought tie where every match went to three sets.

The triumphant Thorpe Bay team were Jon Lea, Lee Blackman, Simon Cuthbert and Chris Knight.

Westcliff's second team were Nick Brown, Gary Reynolds, Ian McDonald and Andy Bigland.

Lawn's first team were away to Woodford Wells in Essex League Division One where they lost seven events to two.

Bryan Rivers, Richard Barham, Steve Wynn, Tim Willcock, Dave Lamb abd Roger Peters represented Westcliff Lawn.

However, they were up against against a Woodford Wells team which included several county standard players.

The team was Simon Harstone, Luke Rogers, Mark Bragoli, Woodcock, Walters and Stuart Hancock, who represented Essex at County Week in Eastbourne back in July.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.