Shropshire players impress at ITF World Masters Tennis Tour Liverpool tournament

A strong entry list of players, both British and international, took part in the prestigious event, with the Shropshire contingent impressing.

The ITF World Tennis Masters Tour is a global tennis Tour that provides players aged 30 and over with a high quality and enjoyable competitive experience.

Karen Sullivan led the way for Shropshire in the Liverpool tournament as she won two titles and was a runner-up in the other event she entered.

The relentless hard hitting and accuracy of Karen, a member of Cound Tennis Club and The Shrewsbury Club, gave her the edge as she eventually got the better of Rachel Prudden in the over-40s women’s singles final.

It was one of the longest matches of the whole tournament, lasting more than two and a half hours, with Karen playing with real determination to secure the win.

Karen added another title at the Wirral Tennis Centre in Birkenhead when she teamed up with Staffordshire’s Adrian Watts to win the over-45s mixed doubles.

Karen almost made it a hat-trick as, along with Elena Griffiths, who also plays at Cound Tennis Club and The Shrewsbury Club, they were runners-up in the over-40s women’s doubles.

Dean King, who plays at Newport’s Boughey Gardens Tennis Club, ensured Shropshire success in the over-45s men’s singles competition.

He won the title without dropping a set, eventually beating Nerijus Gricevicius from Lithuania in the final.

Rob Rue was close to adding his name to the Shropshire winners in singles competitions before being edged out by Australian Michael Howard in a third set tiebreak in the final of the men’s over-70s competition.

The final was described by tournament organiser Peter Leatherbarrow as the match of the tournament, with Rob coming back from 4-2 down in the first set to win it on a tiebreak.

Mike, who recently played in the World Championships in Turkey, took the second set 6-1 with some huge forehands, and won the match on a third set championship tiebreak.

Rob, who plays at The Shrewsbury Club and represents Wales in international tennis, enjoyed success in the over-65s men’s doubles, partnering Lancashire’s Mike Webster to victory.

There was another men’s doubles triumph for the Shropshire combination of Andrew Tellwright and Oliver Lawrence - club mates at Newport’s Boughey Gardens - as they teamed up to win the over-30s competition.

It also proved a memorable tournament for Shropshire players Mark Wilson and John Turner as they took part in their first-ever ITF event.

In his opening over-60s men’s singles match, Mark, from Wem Tennis Club and The Shrewsbury Club, lost the first set against Andrew Nevett, but fought back impressively to win the second before clinching the match in the third set championship tiebreak 10-7.

It was almost the same story in the over-60s men’s doubles as Mark teamed up with Ludlow Castle Tennis Club player John.

They lost the opening set of their first match to North Wales pair Alistair Pells and Brian Rimmer. They pulled level, but lost narrowly 10-7 in the third set championship tiebreak.

Mark, the vice-chair of Tennis Shropshire, said he enjoyed the whole experience of playing in his first ITF tournament and has entered another event in Sutton Coldfield next week.

“Rob Rue’s been a keen advocate of taking part in these tournaments and has been very successful,” said Mark. “There’s a group of us who play regularly together and Rob has encouraged people to have a go at the ITF events.

"This year for the first time in a while Shropshire is putting together an over-60s men’s team, so a few of us from that group decided we would go and get some experience by taking part in an ITF tournament.

“The organisers and all the people taking part were such a lovely group of people.

"With it being my first ITF tournament, there was a degree of nervousness, thinking what have I let myself in for and what are the people going to be like, but, without exception, everybody I spoke to, everybody I played against, were lovely.

“They were very supportive and sporting, so it was a very pleasant atmosphere and a positive experience.”

Rob, whose next ITF event will be in Leicester, added he was pleased to be joined by so many fellow Shropshire players on the entry list for the Liverpool tournament.

"It’s my tenth year playing ITF tournaments - I probably play at least a dozen a year,” said Rob. "It was nice to have a tournament in the north of England as the vast majority are in the south east.

“When I heard they were running a Liverpool tournament for the first time, I did my best to try and get as many people from Shropshire to enter - and I’m glad to say they did.

“The tournament was a great success with 167 entries across all the age groups, which is pretty good, and the standard of tennis was good.

“I would imagine that Shropshire was probably the most successful county participating.”