IT was third-time lucky for Dale Abbotts as he became Wollaston Tennis Club’s Men’s Singles Champion for the first time after losing in the final on the last two previous occasions.

Abbotts made the final without dropping a set in the knockout rounds and the trend continued as he defeated Kelvin Vincent 6-1, 6-3 in Saturday’s final.

The competition has been dominated since 1999 by Dave Edwards who was 17 when he won it for the first time, and has since gone on to win it 13 times. Dale commented “It feels great to finally win the title – third time lucky.”

The Ladies Singles trophy was contested for by Jean Brayshay and Alison Grove. In a close-fought battle, Alison secured her second title having previously won the Ladies Singles Championship in 2001. Alison’s winning streak did not end there as she went on to claim the Ladies Doubles Title with Katy Piller in their victory against Amy Fellows and Hannah Didlock.

Alison then made it a hat-trick of wins in the day , winning the Mixed-Doubles Plate Final with her son Will Moloney. This proved to be a titanic struggle, finally winning 7-5 in the deciding set. The runners-up were Chris James and Jean Brayshay.

Perhaps the closest game of the day was in the Men’s Doubles final. This was contested by A team players, producing very high quality tennis. This saw Kelvin Vincent and Dave McEwan overcoming Pete Talbot and Dave Southwick, but only after being forced into a final set which was won 7-5.

Pete Talbot was also involved in a tight game in the Mixed-Doubles Final, this time, with partner Louise Jew. Despite being 5-2 down in the final set, they overcame Pauline Clutterbuck and Dave McEwan to win the decider 7-5.

There were also wins for Nick Digger and Paul Jackson in the Men’s Doubles Plate. Heather Partridge and Jean Brayshay won the Ladies Doubles plate after one of their opponents was forced to withdraw due to injury.

The event trophies were presented by Anne Becke, Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline. John Cutler, Club Chairman, concluded the day by handing over a cheque of £650 from the club to the charity in respect of monies raised following a visit by children affected by the Chernobyl disaster –see separate Stourbridge News article / press release.

Chairman John Cutler said “This was another magnificent finals day, with some top quality tennis played throughout the tournament.”