Tennis

SARAH Teubler was one of the stars of the show at the St John's Open Tournament finals.

In the women's event, Teubler was defending her title, but 2011 brought a new challenger, Maya Birdwood-Hedger, a newcomer to St John's.

The final was unsurprisingly cagey, with both players moving well around the court and able to keep the rallies going.

Teubler proved the most resilient, manoeuvring herself into winning positions and she ran out the winner in 6-1, 6-3.

The men's final saw two debutants at this level, Dominic Osborn and Peter Henshall, who started strongly and was regularly finding the lines.

He took the first set comfortably 6-1. In the second, Osborn dug in and forced Henshall into errors.

Osborn led 5-4 in the second, but spurned several set points and lost 7-5.

The following Sunday saw the return of the hot weather and two more events were concluded.

Title-holders Sarah Teubler and Lindsey Baker took on the new pairing of Andrea Bagg and Viv Johnson.

Most of the games were closely contested, but Teubler and Baker were more adept at closing out. They won 6-3, 6-3.

The trophy was presented by Sarah's mother, who, as Susan Waters, had won the singles in 1946 aged just 13.

In the mixed doubles, Teubler was going for a hat-trick, paired with last year's winning partner, Colin Dunigan,

They were opposed by Colin Coombes and Denise Holme.

In the first set, Coombes was on superb form, hammering away all the chances and they won it 6-1.

However, Teubler had worked out a method of point winning and, combined with excellent serving from Dunigan, they reached 4-2.

A fine comeback saw Coombes and Holme get to 5-4, leaving Dunigan to hold his nerve to save the match.

Coombes then blazed through his service game to put the pressure on Teubler, but Holme's inability to return safely led to a series of deuces before she was able to finally place one down the line.

Fittingly, Coombes had the chance to win, rather than save the game and he did not fail.

This brace of pairs have won five out of five of their Kent League games this summer.

With the unavailability of Coombes for the last game, 15-year-old Nathan Cook stepped in.

He did not disappoint, winning both his games in a 4-0 win.