The finals of the PokerStars Tennis Open took place over the weekend when both of last year's singles winners retained their titles.
In the Men's Singles, Bruce Wagstaff the No.1 seed took on Marc Chinn the No. 2 seed. With a large gap in the ratings of the two players you could have expected a short match. However Marc raised his game and matched Bruce's power and accuracy in the first 8 games to 4-4.
At the sharp end of the set Bruce edged ahead, his greater experience paying, off he broke Marc and served out for the first set 6-4. In the second set, it was a similar story at the start with a break of serve early on for both players. However Marc's good play forced Bruce to up his game and Bruce eventually took the match winning the second set 6/2.
In the Ladies final Laura Feely the No.1 seed took on Karen Faragher. No.2 seed. Up until 2 years ago, Karen had not lost a match on the Island for the best part of 15 years However Laura, who celebrated her 17th birthday last week, has now got Karen's measure.
She came out the gates really fast and with Karen a little under her best form in the first set, Laura powered through the first set shutting Karen out with a 6-0 set. The second set was much more competitive with the score going to 4-4. Laura then got the upper hand again taking the next 2 games to take the match 6-0, 6-4.
The doubles competitions were played as round robin leagues with 5 teams in each. In the Men's competition, Bruce Wagstaff and James Buxton managed to hold their form throughout the week and despite having a couple of close sets remained unbeaten to take the title.
The last match of the day in this competition saw youth against experience to claim the runners-up spot. Craig Blackwell and Peter Dunworth played Marc Chinn and Oliver Broadhead. In this match up it was a win for the younger duo Marc and Oliver to take the runners-up slot. In the Mixed Doubles competition, Bruce Wagstaff and Karen Faragher got the better of all their opponents and the runners-up were Marc Chinn and Laura Feely.
The Isle of man would like to thank PokerStars for sponsoring the Open again and for their continued support of Senior Tennis on the Island.