WEXFORD HARBOUR Boat and Tennis Club (WHBTC) hosted the annual Senior open tennis tournament on the August weekend. With over 230 players playing in 300 events, tournament referee Bernie Morrissey declared the weekend a great success.

With the 200 players using 25 courts all around the county from Saturday to Monday, this was a very busy weekend. Boat Club Commodore, Miriam Geraghty, thanked the many volunteers and the outside court owners for their support over the years.

With only four courts at the Boat Club, it would not be possible to host so many players without the use of these generously-given courts.

Bernie Morrissey also thanked our sponsors, Diageo Budweiser, who have been with us for many years, and our new sponsors, Bugler Doyles and The Crown Bar, Wexford. Prizes to the value of €10,000 are awarded for all events in the tournament and without sponsorship, this would not be possible.

Local winners included Aileen Sutherland (WHBTC), Class 1/2 ladies' singles; Catherine Lawless (WHBTC), Class 5 singles and with Catherine Wallace (WHBTC), Class 5 doubles; Stewart Copeland (Hillbrook) and Craig Healy (WHBTC), Class 3 men's doubles; Eilis Ryan (St. Martin's, Piercestown), Class 7 ladies' singles; Joe Corrigan (WHBTC) and Silvia Jancuskova (Westwood), mixed doubles plate.

Letty Lucas, President of Tennis Ireland, played in the tournament again and had a great weekend, winning the ladies' Class 3/4 doubles with Sarah Keogh (Haverfordwest, Wales). Letty was once again full of praise of the organisation and running of the tournament and declared that she will be back with family and friends next year even though her term of office as President will be over.

The men's championship singles once again attracted a big entry, with 21 of the top players in Ireland travelling to Wexford. The final was between Lazo Kukhalashvili, number one seed from D.C.U., and Tommie Murphy from Carlow who had beaten the number two seed in the semi-final.

It looked as if the number one seed would prevail when he won the first set 6-1, but Tommie fought back and won the second set 6-1. The third set was a more hard-fought one with Lazo winning 6-3.

The crowd on the balcony and stand were totally in awe of the tennis - how hard they can hit the ball and with such accuracy - and expressed their appreciation of the quality of the play throughout the match.

The men's championships doubles final was a hard-hitting match, with Fiachra Lennon (Castleknock) and Tommie Murphy (Carlow) taking on Cal Craven and Tristan Farron-Mahon (Fitzwilliam). Tristan is ranked 590 in the world men's doubles rankings. On Monday Fiachra and Tommie were too strong for the Fitzwilliam pairing, beating them 63, 6-2.

The ladies' championship final was between Leslie O'Halloran and Rachael Dillon, both Donnybrook. The first set was competitive and saw Rachael winning 6-2. Leslie (who first won this tournament in 1996 14 years ago) pulled a muscle in the second set and struggled to finish. Rachael won 6-1.

Leslie with partner Tanya Murtagh (Malahide) got her revenge in the championships ladies' doubles final, beating Rachael and partner Susan McRann (Fitzwilliam) 7-6, 6-2.

Beaten finalists from the locality included Aileen Sutherland (WHBTC) with Sheila Nolan (Naas), ladies' Class 1/2 doubles; Gary Quinn (WHBTC), men's Class 3 singles; Seán Rossiter and Graham Wright (WHBTC), men's class 3 doubles; Andrew Roche (WHBTC) and Jim Doyle (GlynnBarntown), men's Class 4 doubles; Ella Sinnott (St. Martin's, Piercestown), ladies' Class 3/4 singles; Kay Curran and Emer McCrea (WHBTC), Class 3/4 ladies' doubles; Gay Brennan and Christine Hore (WHBTC), ladies' Class 5 doubles; Sinéad Doyle (Hillbrook), ladies' Class 6 singles; Martina Flynn (WHBTC), ladies' Class 7 singles.