Neck and neck race for Melton Superstars tennis title

And after 26 weeks of Team Ash’s players and Team Mo’s team are locked in a pulsating, close and never boring stalemate of 13 matches apiece.

Ash’s team have led for most of the year but just as it seemed Mo’s team were in trouble, he rallied his team and, with a string of wins actually took the lead at 13-12.

However, just one week later Team Ash responded to make it 13-13.

For team Ash, John Little has performed superbly to notch 40 set wins with Paul Heaton and Rob Grant consistent scorers with both on 30 wins apiece.

Pete Lovegrove has chipped in with 25 wins and Michelle Heaton has topped the lot with 41 wins, leaving skipper Ash to notch 27 wins.

For Mo’s team, Dave Owen once again has come up trumps with a superb effort for his team by collecting 45 wins, despite falling foul of the referee’s rules on several occasions.

Joe Cunningham has more than played his part with 37 wins, action woman Bridget Ingle has chipped in with 39 wins and husband Neil collecting 37 wins.

Chris Howe has contributed 34 wins, Val White 26 wins and skipper Mo chipped in with 39 super wins.

A spokeman said: “Big thanks to Gareth, Eluned, Ali, Laura, Steve, Matt, Abi, Graham, Michael, Kay and Matt who have played a part in some of the fixtures and entered into the spirit of this year-long duel between two closely matched squads.”

With just 10 weeks remaining all the team and individual titles are still up for grabs.

Hamilton Tennis Club's annual championships, sponsored by Moore Estate Agents, also continued this week with the staging of the ladies doubles final.

Defending champions Penny Hallam and Emily Harrison were once again in top form and beat Sue Harrison and Margaret Roskell 6-1, 6-2.

The mixed doubles final took place a few days later and in a hard-fought match, with many deuces, reigning champions Penny Hallam and Kris Kutor eventually retained their title when they beat Sue Harrison and Ciaran Boylan 6-3, 6-1.