ACE Sarah Skidmore extended her record-breaking haul of ladies’ singles titles to 18 at the Dorchester Tennis and Squash Club Annual Championships.

With the 2018 tournament delayed into 2019 due to new artificial clay courts being installed, the protracted event was played in perfect, albeit chilly, conditions.

Skidmore, the club’s head coach, was a convincing 6-0, 6-0 winner over Felicity Quick. Skidmore first won the title in 1992 and will gun for her 19th later this year.

Skidmore and Joe Chambers also won the mixed doubles winning a competitive tussle 6-3, 6-1 against the pairing of Mike Williams and Joy Hennessy.

In the men’s singles, 17-year-old Joe Chambers successfully defended his title and is now the first man to have won the trophy three times in a row, by convincingly beating 2015 champion Hal Cazalet 6-1, 6-0.

Chambers also completed the treble for the first time, winning the men’s doubles 6-4, 6-0 after teaming up with 17-year-old Ellery Ford to beat Mike Williams and Tim Button.

Chambers was therefore awarded the coveted Rod Skidmore Cup, awarded to the winner of the most events in the main draw. The trophy is presented in memory of a much-missed club member and club chairman, Rod Skidmore, a Royal Naval pilot who lost his life in a helicopter crash in 2002.

The ladies’ doubles was a real battle. Eventually the 2014 champions, Sally Dinham-Scott and Yvonne Henderson came through to beat Skidmore and her 15-year-old partner Immi Reid 6-4, 6-4.

Skidmore has done a great job of bringing along juniors as her partners in the ladies’ doubles over the past few years, but the consistency of Dinham-Scott backed up by Henderson won through in the end.

Consolation events were held in all events apart from the ladies’ singles.

The standout match was the men’s consolation doubles – a real battle of youth versus experience with the junior pairing of Ethan Robinson (13) and Eddie Keegan (14) taking on the experienced team of Chris Porter and Martin Kimberley.

The youngsters, with their fearless shot-making, won the first set on a tie-break, before the experience of Porter and Kimberley showed in the second where their volleying became more consistent and they won, on another tie-break.

A championship tie-break, first to 10 points, decided the last set and it was won 10-6 by Porter and Kimberley after an amazing tussle with undoubtedly future club champions.

The newly resurfaced artificial clay courts are being officially opened on Saturday, January 19 at 2pm. Anyone interested in finding out more about that or in joining the club, should email: admin@dtsc.org.uk or phone 01305 268103 from 9-11am on weekdays.

As well as a busy tennis programme, there are also equally busy programmes in squash and racketball. There is also an active social programme as well.

Full Results: Men’s Singles – Joe Chambers beat Hal Cazalet 6-1, 6-0; Ladies’ Singles – Sarah Skidmore beat Felicity Quick 6-0, 6-0; Men’s Doubles – Joe Chambers & Ellery Ford beat Tim Button & Mike Williams 6-4, 6-0; Ladies’ Doubles – Yvonne Henderson & Sally Dinham-Scott beat Sarah Skidmore & Immi Reid 6-4, 6-4; Mixed Doubles – Joe Chambers & Sarah Skidmore beat Mike Williams & Joy Hennessy 6-3, 6-1; Men’s Singles Consolation – John Hobbs beat Guy Simmons 6-1, 6-0; Men’s Doubles Consolation – Martin Kimberley & Chris Porter beat Ethan Robinson & Eddie Keegan 6-7, 7-6, 10-6 ; Mixed Doubles Consolation – Emily Noel & Greg Charles beat Keith Mason & Ann Williams 6-4, 6-3