The finals were originally meant to be played on the grass courts but due to the rain the courts were unplayable.

There were 102 men’s singles entries in the tournament and it was twenty-one year old David Rice from Herefordshire who triumphed in the men’s event defeating practise partner Sean Thornley in straight sets 6-2 6-0. Claire Ricketts also from Herefordshire won the women’s tournament beating Natasha Starling in the final 6-1 6-0.

Rice is number one in his county and is now ranked number 11 in Britain. After this result he has also broken into the world’s top 500 which is a huge achievement. He was delighted with his weeks work.

“I played well but it was a tough match because we train together so obviously want to beat each other and I know how he plays although he didn’t play his best game today but I’m happy that I won. Last time we played it was 7-6 in the third set so it’s always a tough match.” said Rice afterwards.

David trains at Sutton tennis academy under former British Davis Cup captain Jeremy Bates and the transition from grass to hard court didn’t seem to affect him. “I’ve been playing on grass all summer and had good results but luckily we played the semi-finals indoors so I got used to it,” added Rice.

There was no time for either victor to reflect on their weeks though as Claire was straight off to Manchester for a tournament and David is off to Mexico for two weeks to compete in an international event.