MICHAEL SPIERS PLYMOUTH TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS by David Williams

DAN JONES (Hill Lane ) is the 2011 Plymouth Championships men's singles champion.

Winning the title is not a new experience for the 38-year-old teacher at Plymouth College, but only long-serving supporters will remember this as his previous wins were in 1994 and 1997.

Jones rewrote the record book by being the oldest player, certainly in the last 30 years, to win the title and also having the longest gap between wins.

In the final Jones played his nephew, 2010 champion 17-year-old Seb Dartnell (Hill Lane), who was not even born when Jones first won in 1994.

Jones started in confident fashion and proceeded to turn the clock back and produce a master class of almost faultless tennis, which left the out of sorts Dartnell (pictured right) bewildered and unable to play up to his normal standard.

Jones won 6-0, 6-2, displaying a wide range of perfectly placed ground strokes without the need for volleying or net play.

The match statistics tell the full story of Jones' dominance. In the first set Jones lost only 10 points of which five were in the fifth game which went to deuce. The set lasted just 19 minutes.

Dartnell did get some order to his game in the second set, winning the third and seventh games but Jones served out the eighth game to love for the title.

The second set was over in 23 minutes with a total match time of 42 minutes. There was sympathy for Dartnell to have to meet Jones in such perfect form, but on the day there was always going to only one winner.

Two 15-year-old juniors, Mae Dartnell (Hill Lane) and Shannon Sandy (Devonshire) contested the ladies' singles final.

In the best and most closely contested event, both players played well with many long rallies.

Dartnell was on top in the first set, producing excellent serving coupled with strong ground strokes and she won the set 6-2. Sandy recovered well in the second set and posed problems for Dartnell and hung on in the later games to win it 7-5.

Dartnell had been the slight favourite to win and so it proved in the third set tie-break when she just had the better of it to win 10-6 and the match 6-2, 5-7, 10-6 (t/b).

Rory Harries and Umberto Fontanari (Mannamead) went one better then last year's runners-up spot to win the men's doubles.

As expected they were too good for the St Budeaux pair of Neil Hunt and Mike Paskins. Harries, as usual, was swift around the court with good net play and was well backed up by the consistent forehand shots from Fontanari.

The winning score of 6-2, 6-2 did not reflect the closeness of many rallies, but Harries and Fontanari were never really in trouble and finished deserved winners.

Four juniors produced a match full of hard-hitting strokes and attacking play in the ladies' doubles final. Steph Ellmer (Ivybridge) was a winner in 2010 with Charlotte Sandy, but with Sandy injured Ellmer partnered Mia Loye (Ivybridge) against Tamsin and Shannon Sandy (Devonshire).

In a high standard match the result could have gone either way, but eventually the Shannon sisters with their greater understanding and consistency prevailed 6-4, 6-3 to also improve on runners-up place in 2010.

The mixed doubles final saw youth overcome experience when Patrick Daykin and Mae Dartnell (Hill Lane) beat Harries and Linda Trebilcock (Whiteford Road).

Harries and Trebilcock were always ahead in the first set with Daykin and Dartnell unable to penetrate the defence of Harries and Trebilcock, who took it 6-3. In the second set at 2-2, Harries lost his serve and Daykin and Dartnell took full advantage and won the next three games for the set at 6-2.

In a third set tie-break both men seemed to try too hard and mistakes crept in. At 3-3 Daykin and Dartnell won the next three points which proved vital as they held on to win the tie-break 10-5 and the match 3-6, 6-2, 10-5 (t/b).

In the veterans' men's doubles holders Neil Hunt (St Budeaux) and Tim Randell (Plymstock) retained their title. They made few mistakes in a solid performance and never gave Chris Shorter and Phil Ticehurst (Mannamead) a chance to get into their stride in a 6-1, 6-1 win.

The Whiteford Road pair of Steve Kingston and Trebilcock are the new veterans' mixed doubles winners. They adapted themselves much better to windy conditions than opponents Stuart Barnes and Marguerite Butt (Devonshire), who play most of their tennis on indoor courts.

Kingston and Trebilcock recorded a comfortable 6-3, 6-1 victory.

Trebilcock and Gillian Thomas, 2009 winners, regained the veterans' ladies' doubles title, but not in a way they would have wished. Opponents Clare Hutton and Nicky Evans of Hill Lane had to concede as they were unavailable on the day.

Keith White, managing director of sponsors Michael Spiers, was unable through illness to present the awards. P&D Tennis Association chairman Steve Hitch deputised in his absence.