ONCE again, Bury based players were the stars of the Bolton Sports Federation's Tennis Championships.

Ian Stott from Walmer took the Men's Singles title for the sixth time and Lisa Cartwright from Hawkshaw retained her singles title for the seventh time to record her 12th win overall.

As in the semi-final, Stott dropped the first set before seeming to realise that the title was not his of right. He settled down to reproduce the type of strong, consistent performance that is expected of him, to overcome Danial Filjo, a tennis coach from the Czech Republic, who is visiting the Holcombe Brook club for six months.

Lisa Cartwright also had a shaky start as she went 1-4 down very quickly at the start of the first set. She clawed her way back to take it to a tie-break which she won 7-4, but the second set score of 6-2 belies the fight she was given by Lostock's Sue Platt.

Vicky Boon, also from the Hawkshaw base that continues to produce an endless stream of very promising youngsters, seemed to have everything under control in the first set of the Girls' Singles final which she won 6-1. However, her opponent, Joanne Cain from Ellesmere, who had some family pride to protect, bounced back to take the second set 6-3 and only then did Vicky produce her best tennis to take the third set and the title, 6-3.

Simon Roberts, last year's beaten finalist in the Boy's Singles, looked to be cruising to victory as he took an early 4-0 lead in the first set. His opponent John Lister had other ideas and although the first set went to Roberts 6-3, the second went to Lister 6-1. The third went all the way, with Lister often in the lead and it took an 8-6 scoreline to see the title go to the diminutive 15-year-old from Eagley.

Stott again partnered Gartside to retain the Men's Doubles title in a tight struggle against the two Martins - Bromley and Robinson. The quality, especially of the net play, and the closeness of the match (7-6, 6-3) was a delight to behold.

However, the few who stayed to the bitter end would probably rate the Mixed final even better, with Jonathan Davies and Lisa Cartwright, having taken the first set and holding the lead in the second for most of the time, suddenly finding themselves 5-6 down. They then levelled to 6-6 after a struggle and took the title when the challenge of Martin Robinson and Jane Kehoe collapsed in the tie-break.

The only other Bury based success was in the Handicap Men's Doubles, which saw Hawkshaw's Ross Manning and Mark Hartley, playing off -30, overcome Eagley's Michael Stokes and Martin Inch, 6-2, 4-6, 6-0.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.