Stewart Clark earned himself the title of the marathon man when Wickford Lawn Tennis Club held their winter finals on a beautiful spring-like day.

The first event on, the men's singles plate, threatened to last the entire day - a two-and-a-half hour marathon of excellent rallying which left both Clark and Ken Ellis exhausted.

Clark eventually overcame his opponent and found victory in the third set.

The ladies' plate final saw Claire Bullman beat Glynnis Exley in a well-paced and somewhat shorter match. The men's singles main event was a hard-hitting match of skills, but Cliff Warrick's touch play won over his opponent, David Crawford, who he beat in straight sets.

In the ladies' singles event this year, it was the turn of Karen Poole to take the title from Caron Fuller in what is turning out to be a regular battle between the two.

The ladies' doubles provided Claire Bullman with her second win of the day. Paired with Sandra Ellis, consistency of play overcame the strength of opponents Nicki Thain and Pat Baker.

Warrick also claimed his second win when, in partnership with Dave Thornhill in the men's doubles, Ken Poole and Stewart Clark were beaten in a hard and closely-fought three-set match.

After a long and hard day, for players, umpires and spectators, the final match, the mixed doubles, was won by Caron Fuller and Bob Chapman. They beat Nicki Thain and Ken Poole in straight sets.

Chairman of the club John Kirk presented the trophies to the winners and runners-up at the end of a very successful day.

Marathon man - Stewart Clark with his men's singles plate trophy

Picture: MAXINE CLARKE Wickford set for finals matches

Wickford Tennis Club are all set for one of the biggest and most unusual occasions of their year - the Barclays finals day.

The event, sponsored by the bank for ten years, is a mixed doubles tournament with special handicapping rules to make the matches as well-balanced as possible.

It runs from 3pm on Saturday, April 10, with presentations to follow. Westcliff toast victory

Westcliff Lawn Tennis Club are toasting victory in an indoor winter league.

The club won all seven of its matches in the David Lloyd Chigwell league and will now go on to the regional play-off.

This will be at the David Lloyd centre in Finchley on April 17, when the 12-strong Westcliff team will take on seven other clubs.

If they win the play-offs Westcliff Lawn will go through to the final at Denby in May.

The players representing Westcliff were Steve Wynn, Malcolm Lee, D Lambe, R Peters, K Eley, I McDonald, Hazel Wynn, Sasal Ball, Karen Rivers, Lindsay Watt, Gill Sanderson and D Carradus.

Westcliff were in division one of the three divisions at the David Lloyd centre in Chigwell.

Each team consists of three mixed pairs who played against the other three pairs over one set to tie break. Three in a row for Lawn

Westcliff Lawn made it three wins in a row in Men's Division One of the Leigh and Westcliff LTA winter league.

Under the leadership of Graham Byford, Westcliff Lawn beat second-placed Westcliff Hard in the final match of the season to take the title.

Invicta - also three-time winners - were relegated after being promoted at the end of the 1997/98 season.

Bob Sharp and his Westcliff Hard 2 squad took the necessary six points from their last match to win the second division by a point.

John Blackman's Thorpe Bay side won promotion after carefully working their way up the divisions, as the Hard already have a team in the top flight. Leigh 2 - under Bruce Duffield - drop back into division three following promotion last year.

Three clubs have been locked together in the third division all season, but it was Thorpe Bay 2 who won promotion.

Kent Elms 2 finished second after beating the other strong contender Southend Lawn. Crowstone make the drop following promotion last year.

Ian Hookway's Westcliff Hard 3 team took the division four title, while Southend Lawn were relegated.

A four-point margin earned Kent Elms 3 promotion from the fifth division, while Rochford drop into the sixth division after finishing three points adrift.

Jerry Bell's Thorpe Bay 4 squad were the third side from the club to win promotion this year. Wickford 4 took this year's wooden spoon.

Brenda Lincoln's summer championship-winning Kent Elms took the winter title in Ladies' Division One after not losing a match this season.

The relegation battle ended with Southend Lawn unable to field a pair, losing the match and ending up on 18 points, the same as Westcliff Lawn.

The set countback came into force and Southend were relegated by a one set difference.

Three clubs have been chasing the division two title, but Leigh finished ahead by four points. Hadleigh Park 2 avoided relegation last year but were unable to beat the drop this year.

Set countback also came into play in division three where Pat Rogers' Kent Elms 2 and Janice Davies' Leigh 2 team finished level.

Kent Elms 2 finished one set ahead to win promotion, while Crowstone were relegated.

Kaye Gordon's Thorpe Bay 2 were the runaway winners of the fourth division. The wooden spoon was a three-way fight going into the final game. Eventually Leigh Road Baptist were overcome to finish in last place.

Martin Jeffery's Westcliff Hard team beat the two-year dominance of Kent Elms in Mixed Division One.

The relegation battle was settled when bottom clubs Westcliff Lawn and Southend Lawn faced each other. Southend earned the points to secure safety.

Three points separated top trio Invicta, Kent Elms 2 and Wickford in division two. Second-placed Kent Elms had the home draw against leaders Invicta which the visitors lost.

This put Wickford into second place and earned them promotion as Kent Elms already has a team in the top flight.

Hadleigh Park send Westcliff Hard 2 into division three with a four-point difference.

Southend Lawn 2 finished top of division three after beating already-relegated Leigh Road Baptist side.

Doug Fingleton led Thorpe Bay 2 into the third division, while Kent Elms got a six-point win in their last match to send vanquished Rochford into the fourth division.

Wickford 2 won division four by 15 points. St Peters got the wooden spoon after losing to Westcliff Hard 4 on set countback. Cheer on Davis Cup five

David Lloyd today urged the nation's tennis lovers to throw off their inhibitions and put Britain in with a shout of winning the centenary Davis Cup.

Team captain Lloyd, from Leigh, believes tennis fans in Britain are too shy and retiring.

As Britain's team of Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski, Miles Maclagan, Neil Broad and Mark Hilton prepared for today's draw for Britain's vital World Group first round tie with the United States at Birmingham's Indoor Arena this weekend, Lloyd called for an atmosphere more in keeping with the venue for TV's Gladiators than the ivy-clad walls of SW19.

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