Bingham's David Phillipson continued his solid start to 2010 by claiming the men's main draw singles title at the North West Challenge, Britain's first world ranking event of the 2010 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour at South Ribble Tennis Centre, near Preston.
It was Phillipson's second ITF Futures title in the last 12 months and reinforces his position as both British No 2 and world No 19 after he beat British No 2 Marc McCarroll in the final.
After a first round bye, the Nottinghamshire star dropped just seven games in beating fellow Briton Mark Agar and Sweden 's Dan Wallin en route to the final. This set up an intriguing contest against Middlesex-based McCarroll, who has twice beaten British No 1 Gordon Reid this season, but Phillipson took advantage of a slow start by the third seed and went on to win 6-2, 6-4.
"Marc wasn't playing as well as I've seen him play to start with and I just had to remain solid in the first set and tried to take everything on the first bounce," said Phillipson, who was playing his third tournament of 2010. He reached the final of his first tournament of the year in Australia in January, a result that took him to his career best of No 19. "Marc played a lot better in the second set, but I just concentrated on being consistent and I'm really pleased to have won my first North West title, its been a good start to the year and I want to keep it going now."
Despite winning the singles title, there was not as much success in the men's main draw doubles after Phillipson and Scotland 's Kevin Simpson lost out in the semi-finals. The former National men's doubles champions could not hit their best form at the same time and lost out 6-4, 3-6, 4-6 to Britain 's Tony Knappett and Wallin.