The third of the Open Tournaments planned for the 1999 season took place at Braintree Lawn Tennis Club's Clockhouse Way headquarters on Saturday.

Unlike the earlier Ladies' Doubles tournament, which had to be abandoned because of rain, the Men's event was run in bright sunshine and the tournament had a new sponsor this year, T D Ridley & Sons, the Essex Brewers.

The original entry was higher than last year's but during the week before the event six expected pairs had to withdraw, mostly because of injury.

The tournament was run on five courts this year which meant a mixture of the natural and artificial grass surfaces.

The high temperatures of the preceding period meant that the grass court were hard so that there was less difference in the playing characteristics of the surfaces than there would normally be.

The first match at 10.45am began the long first round in which each pair in the group played an extended set (up to eight games) against all others.

This round continued until 3.45pm with the results being: Group A: S. Taylor and N. Yusuf (West Mersea); K. Martin and T. White (The Essex); B. Pearson and N. Pearson (Castle Hedingham); T. Williams and C. Collins (Great Baddow); D. Martin and R. Skelton (Braintree); S. Richardson and J. Schofield (Lexden). Group B: B. Dixon and K. Spencer (Ongar); P. Mayo and A. Gadene (The Essex); M. Fowler and J. Cooke (Braintree); P. Newbury and K. Newbury (Great Baddow); D. Williams and K. Doleman (Braintree); N. Cheatle and D. Cooke (unattached).

The semi-finals saw S. Taylor and N. Yusuf beat Peter Mayo and Adam Gadene fairly comfortably 8-1 but N. Martin and T. White had a much longer match before they beat B. Dixon and K. Spencer 8-4.

This paralleled last year when the same pair from Ongar won an even longer semi-final before losing in the final.

This year however they had to be content with a semi-final plaque.

The final opened with Steve Taylor losing his service game for the first time in the tournament.

Tom White then won his serve for the Martin and White pair to take a 2-0 lead.

Nick Yusuf won his serve and then they broke the Martin serve to love, bringing the score to 2-2.

Taylor began to serve more powerfully and won the next game before White repeated his earlier feat of winning his serve to love.

Five games followed, all closely contested but all with service for the score to reach 6-5 to Taylor and Yusuf.

Kevin Martin then served a long game with three deuces before he lost serve for Taylor and Yusuf to take the first set 7-5. It was noted that double faults contributed to two of the three service breaks.

Taylor served to open the second set. This time he won a game with four deuces to take a 1-0 lead.

Two games then went with serve to bring the score to 2-1 in favour of Taylor and Yusuf who then took two more games, including the Martin serve, to lead 4-1.

Three games, all with serve, then made the score a 5-3 lead to Taylor and Yusuf.

For the second time in the tournament,Taylor lost serve but they retaliated by taking the White serve for the first time in the match and won the final 7-5, 6-4.

The day's tennis contained much fine play and was enjoyed by all taking part and some spectators.

The club's President, Philip Welch, who had also run the tournament, presented the trophies and for the first time the Braintree Doubles Cup was retained because last year's winners won again.

The Ladies Doubles Tournament, postponed from its earlier date, will be run on August 21.

Entries (on the original forms if players have them) should be sent to Sue Spinks at 14 Harold Road, Braintree CM7 7RU, not to Philip Welch as on the form.

Enquiries for membership should also go to Sue Spinks.

The Club's Summer Schools for young players will fill the two weeks beginning August 2 and August 9.

Enquiries for these should be directed to Mick Fowler on 01376 553204.

The eventual Braintree Lawn Tennis Club Open Doubles champions, Nick Yusuf and Steve Taylor, are pictured behind Peter Mayo and Adam Gadene before their semi-final tie at the Braintree club's Clockhouse Way headquarters.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.