DOUBLES International Graham Hurrell showed all the qualities which have taken him to the top of the badminton ladder when he dominated the David Lloyd Bournemouth Open, sponsored by Edge, Leyden & Ellis, Solicitors, winning first the singles championship and then with Tom Dudley taking the doubles.

The ex-St Peters schoolboy has played doubles at the highest level including the world stage. Until recently he played County badminton for Hampshire but has now affiliated himself to Dorset, reflecting his current position as coach at the Bourne-mouth David Lloyd Club.

Although he has not played a singles tournament for seven years, Hurrell still found himself seeded one in the singles through his success on the doubles circuit. He made smooth progress through to the semi-finals of the competition where he met Wales International Paul Le Tocq who had earlier eliminated the Dorset number one, Martin Wells in three hard sets.

The Welshman was unable to ruffle the top seeds feathers and went down 15-4, 15-3.

In the final the local man met England ranked 41 and left hander, Tony Gibson from Gloucester and stepped up a gear to take his first trophy 15-2, 15-12.

He later told the Daily Echo: "At 11-7 in the second I was getting tired, he pulled back to 12-12 and I knew I had to focus to close the game out, luckily I had enough left to do so".

In his favoured doubles Hurrell teamed up with Bournemouth junior international Tom Dudley who is making a determined come back after a nightmare time with injuries.

The pair justified their top seed as they cruised through to the final where they met another local team, Martin Wells and Mike Huxter who had won a tough semi-final against Dan Chipperfield (Essex) and Sang Tu.

The top seeds went 8-0 ahead before Wells and Huxter produced a mini fight back taking the next five points but Hurrell and Dudley quickly reasserted themselves and took the game 15-7.

The challenge of Wells and Huxter soon faded and an elbow injury was restricting Wells' game, the champions took the second game for the loss of four points and Hurrell had still more silverware to take home.

Local junior Nicky Cerfontyne (Wentworth College) was the only player to take a game from the second seed and eventual winner of the Women's singles event, Jo Dix (Hampshire).

The plucky sixteen-year-old first eliminated Amy Paxton from Kent in a three set match.

She then faced Dix and after losing the opening game took the second to five, in the final game she put the Kent girl under immense pressure and almost caused a major upset before she finally crashed out 14-13 in the deciding game.

The County Restricted championships will be held at Poole Sports Centre on Sunday September 28. Closing date for entries, September 22.

Also at the same venue, the 81st Annual Wessex Badminton Championships will be held on Saturday October 11. Further details of these two events can be obtained from tournament sectretary Colin Rutland on 01202 512195.

David Lloyd Bournemouth Open results, Men's Singles: Graham Hurrell (Dorset) beat Tony Gibson (Gloucester) 15-2, 15-12. Doubles: Graham Hurrell/Tom Dudley beat Martin Wells/Mike Huxter (all Dorset) 15-7, 15-4.

Women's Singles: Jo Dix beat Caroline Simpson 11-6, 11-2. Doubles: Jo Dix/ Harah Burgess (both Hampshire) beat Kelly Graham/ Rose Nestor (both Somerset) 15-2, 15-6. Mixed Doubles: Jo Dix/ Steven Smith (both Hampshire) beat Simon Gennery (Dorset)/ Debbie Miller (Hampshire) 2-1.