The Isle of Man Lawn Tennis Association senior championships were blessed with good weather for the finals at Ballaughton over the weekend.

The event was hosted by Albany LTC, but it was players from Kensington Road-based Douglas LTC that walked away with the main trophies.

Number two seed Marc Chinn (Douglas TC) got the better of top seed Sean Drewry (Ramsey TC) 6/1, 3/6 [10-6] in the third set champions’ tie break in a hard-fought contest lasting 1hr 44min. It was Chinn’s fifth title, having previously won in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2016.

Colin Brown remains the only player to have won five singles titles in succession.

In the semi-finals, defending champion Drewry was too strong for veteran player Craig Blackwell (who won the title in 1996), Sean winning 6/1 6/0.

Chinn had to endure a much closer match with No.4 seed Rob Comber in a very competitive match 6/3 6/1 in a contest lasting one hour 35 minutes.

The women’s final saw Karen Faragher (Douglas TC) secure her 21st senior singles title since 1992 against 14-year-old Sarah Long (Albany TC) in her first senior singles final with a score of 6/1, 6/0. The match lasted 70 minutes, which did not reflect in the score.

The women’s qualification stages were played as a round-robin, in which another Albany junior, Aailish Kelly, finished third.

The mixed final took place the previous day, Saturday, and saw top seeds Faragher and Drewry play the junior pairing of Long and Orry Farnworth, who had managed three wins to reach the final.

In the semi-finals, Faragher/Drewry beat Kelly/Comber 6/3 6/2 in a very competitive match deserving of a final, while in the other semi Long/Farnworth eventually got the better of Michaela Duchonova and Nerijus GriceviÄius in a champions tie break 6/4 4/6 [10-7].

The senior players, both No.1 seeds in the singles, were too strong for the juniors who played well but were beaten in straight sets 6/0 6/0.

There was consolation for young Orry in the men’s qualification final on Sunday afternoon when he defeated GriceviÄius 6/3 7/5 in a long two-hour match.

The consolation final for first-round losers saw the tall figure of Sasha Thomas defeat Greg Kelly 6/3 6/4.

The last finals on court were the men’s and women’s doubles matches. Both were relatively close affairs, each going to a champions’ tie break and lasting identical lengths of time - one hour and 40 minutes, in warm conditions.

Men’s No.2 seeds Chinn and James Buxton (both Douglas TC) ultimately got the better of the Ramsey TC pair and No.1 seeds Drewry and Comber in a close hard-hitting contest 6/3, 1/6, [10-5].

The women’s title went to Seraphina Batty and her regular Douglas TC partner Faragher, who defeated the young Albany pair of Long and Kelly 6/4, 3/6, [10-3].

In addition to winning the singles title on a record 21 occasions, Karen Faragher (44 last Friday) has also won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles titles an equally amazing 19 times each.

Brian Walton, chairman Isle of Man Lawn Tennis Association, presented the trophies and thanked Albany Lawn Tennis Club for being excellent hosts. He also thanked tournament referee Paul Jarvis for organising and running the tournament.

l The IoM LTA Junior championships will be played at the Kensington Road courts, Douglas from Saturday, August 22 to Sunday, Aug 30, with mini red and prize giving at 4pm approximately.

More photographs from the championships are available at https://iomtoday.newsprints.co.uk