RAIN ruined the finals of the Scottish Grass Court tennis
championships at Craiglockhart, and for the first time since 1972, the
singles and doubles titles were shared.
Paul Hand, who became joint men's champion with Phil Cooper, had
earlier partnered Caroline Billingham to a 7-6, 6-4 success in the mixed
doubles final against Alex Rouse and Sarah Longbottom, but the share of
the singles crown gave the British No.13 his fifth tournament win on the
LTA's British Tour and increased his lead in the bonus pool by 150
points.
For Karen Cross, a share of the women's title with British No.12
Billingham enabled her to claim a third Tour success, and moves her up
to second place in the bonus pool with five events still to play.
nd's only finalists were Blane Dodds and Malcolm Watt, who were joint
winners of the men's doubles event with Rouse and Adrian Morgan, while
Billingham picked up a third crown when she and Elizma Nortje shared the
women's doubles title with Longbottom and Alison Moverley.
GILLIAN Charnock had a double reason to celebrate recently. he former
British junior internationalist, who took an 18-month break from tennis
to concentrate on studies, gained three As and a B pass in her Highers
and then went on to win the 18-and under girls' singles title at the
Scottish Junior Hard Court championships at Broughty Ferry.
In Saturday's final, Charnock shrugged off the cold, damp conditions
to upset top-seed Jennifer Duncan, who earlier picked up the
16-and-under crown with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Yvonne Hutton.
Although the Wormit player trailed Duncan for most of the first set
her superior serving and greater variety of shots earned a 7-6, 6-4 win
and her first national hard-court title.
Jason Barnett retained the boy's title with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Bruce
McIver. Much was expected of the St Andrews player who has scored a
number of recent notable victories south of the Border, but he failed to
match Barnett's consistency.
Owen Hadden failed to add the 16-and-under crown to the grass-court
title he won last month when he went down
6-1, 6-4 to unseeded Simon Crabtree, while Jonathan Pankhurst won his
first national crown when he staged a remarkable recovery from a set and
4-2 down to beat national grass-court champion Richard Wallace 5-7, 6-4,
6-3 in the 14-and-under final.
Lyndsay Reilly found some ferocious ground strokes to survive three
match points at 5-6, 0-40 in the third of the 14-and-under girls' final
against Anna Marie McGarthland, and eventually triumphed 6-4, 3-6, 8-6
after a three-hour marathon.
Andrew MacKechnie picked up his second national 12-and-under title and
avenged defeat in last week's junior tournament when he beat Perth
clubmate Tommy Ogilvie 6-4, 6-4.
Ten-year-old Mhairi Brown's 6-3, 6-1 win over Fiona Dawson earned a
first national crown. Final results:
BOYS. Singles (18 and under) -- J Barnett (Aberdeen) beat B McIver (St
Andrews) 6-1, 6-1. 16 and under -- S Crabtree (Derbyshire) beat O Hadden
(Scone) 6-2, 6-4. 14 and under -- J Pankhurst (Kingussie) beat R Wallace
(NWTS) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. 12 and under -- A MacKechnie (Perth) beat T
Ogilvie (Perth) 6-4, 6-4.
Doubles. 18 and under -- Hadden and J Thomson (Braid) beat Barnett and
McIver 6-4, 6-2. 14 and under -- Wallace and D McCallum (Dunblane) beat
J Pankhurst and J Pankhurst (Kingussie) 7-5, 6-2.
GIRLS. Singles (18 and under) -- G Charnock (Wormit) beat J Duncan
(Games Club) 7-6, 6-4. 16 and under -- Duncan beat Y Hutton
(Strathgryffe) 6-3, 7-5. 14 and under -- L Reilly (Thistle) beat A
McGarthland (Rubislaw) 6-4, 3-6, 8-6. 12 and under -- M Brown
(Kirkcaldy) beat F Dawson (Cults) 6-3, 6-1.
Doubles. 18 and under -- N Burns (Whitecraigs) and E Smith (St
Andrews) beat D Macdonald (Perth) and R Elliot (Cumbria) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
14 and under -- McGarthland and C Mochrie (Thistle) beat J Colston
(Falkirk) and C Lavery (Stepps) 6-1, 6-7, 8-6.
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