IT is not often these days that we hear of British tennis success on clay courts but at the HET Spieghel Tournament in Holland a squad of junior and student players from Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club put that right.

In temperatures approaching 40C on court Rob Jackson beat the No 14 nationally ranked junior to win the boys' under-16 final 7-5, 6-2.

Having reached the final of the under-14 event last year against fellow club member Johnny Yip no doubt the clay court and the experience of playing in a final helped.

Yip reached the semi-finals of the Under-16 boys event this year but an unfortunate injury prevented him from beating the eventual runner-up.

The Plate Competition for first round losers was won by new Ilkley member Matt Warneford who beat Rover team player Adam Whiteley 7-5, 6-2.

Martin McCann just missed out in the semi-finals of the Under-14 boys' event but had a good run in the senior ratings event.

In the senior event Ilkley's Martin Parkes reached the semi-finals before losing to the eventual winner. For a second successive year Martin made the quarter-finals of the doubles with Nick Fitzpatrick.

Catherine Sellers reached the semi-finals of her group ladies' singles. Seeing off strong opposition in earlier rounds Lindsey Rawling beat team mate Madeleine Penny 6-2, 6-1 to take the ladies' singles title at her first attempt.

The Ilkley club gave a shield for the best performance by a junior player from the Het Spieghel Club which was won by Laura Decker.

At his first visit to the tournament the award was presented by Ilkley's Junior Tennis and Squash Chairman John Roberts.

Led by club coach Nick Fitzpatrick and David Lloyd Coach Rob Taylor 17 players made the trip. They played plenty of tennis and were well looked after and entertained by their Dutch hosts.

The Het Spieghel Tournament is one of the largest in Holland attracting players from the whole of the country.

The Dutch club, thanks to the efforts of former President Ted Buckley, has now been associated with Ilkley for some 30 years. Het Spieghel, as are Ilkley, are very keen to maintain this tradition and will welcome squads of players to their club in Bussum for years to come. Likewise they hope to send their best juniors to the Ilkley Open Tournament next summer.

The Ilkley players raised the majority of the funds for their trip themselves but would welcome a sponsor to share further success next year and onwards.

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