Wolverhampton aces tennis test

Not only did member Henry Parocki claim the men's open singles title but the club has also been selected to host next year's championships as well.

That announcement was made at the end-of-competition presentation event, to the delight of club bosses following six days of action which took place across 11 courts.

Club operations manager Marc Hughes said: "It has been a real honour to host the county championships.

"It was the first time we have done it for many years and we have had some great feedback.

"We have had quite a few visitors from the Lawn Tennis Association as well as Staffordshire Tennis and we were informed on the last night of the tournament that they are happy for us to have the contract for the event again next year which was great to hear."

That announcement topped a fine day in which Parocki had earlier won the men's open title with a 2-1 victory over Bloxwich's George Foster.

He triumphed 6-0, 6-7(5), 6-3 to take the title, which completed a fine treble for the home club player.

Hughes said: "Henry has been at the club for many years and he is a very dedicated player.

"He had a fantastic final and he had already had a fine year, winning the Wolverhampton Lawn Tennis Club men's singles title as well as being part of the club's Premier League team winners."

Penn's Serena Gill, of David Lloyd Dudley, did even better, recording a superb quintet of trophies, including the Women's Open singles crown as well as winning the Under-16 and Under-18s girls singles titles, the Open women's doubles and Under-18s mixed doubles.

She defeated Wolverhampton's Catherine Lea 6-0, 6-3 in the decisive match for the women's singles title and beat her sister Sofie by the same score in the Under-18s final.

She was even more dominant in the Under-16s final, where she triumphed 6-0, 6-0 against Isabelle Hickinbottam.

She and Sofie then defeated Lea and Jo Webb in the women's doubles final 6-3, 6-4 while she triumphed in the Under-18 mixed doubles alongside Tipton's Jake Lawley. They beat James Portman and Sofie Gill 7-5, 6-1.

The open men's doubles title was won by Draycott duo Elliott Farmer and Jack Redfern who bested Wolverhampton's Paul Hodgetts and Thomas Hole, who is from the nearby Albert Lawn Tennis Club, 6-2 6-4.

Hodgetts and Emily Southall won the open mixed doubles with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Sofie Gill and Matthew Hingley.

Wall Heath's Brad Jones was the Over-45s men's singles champion, beating Julian Fisher 6-4, 6-4 in a tight final.

Several other junior titles were also claimed over the course of the final two days. Among them Elise Dennis won Under-12s and Under-14s girls singles gold while Harrison Birch and Elliott Farmer won the Under-18s boys doubles.

Jake Lawley of Tipton Sports Academy won the Under-16 boys singles crown, Jamie Crothers was the Under-14s champion, and Lichfield's Ben Ledson-Perry took the Under-12s title.

Bloxwich's George Foster, who plays for Sutton Coldfield, won the Under-18s boys division while Jack Triptree and Anna Coghlan won the Under-10 mixed doubles.

Elise Dennis and Eloise Yates were Under-14 girls doubles winners while Jamie Crothers and Rohan Thawait were winners of the Under-14s boys doubles. Anna Coghlan was the Under-10 girls champion while Wolverhampton's Henry Trump won the boys Under-10s singles, Steven McHale won the boys Under-nines singles and Josh Coghlan won the Under-eights boys singles. Shaune Cameron-Douglas won the Under-eights girls title while Cadey Morgan was the winner in the Under-nines girls competition.