Brown Shipley National Championship: Former Ripon Tennis Centre coach Brent Parker failed to make a winning return to his old stamping ground.

His Tennis World side from Middlesbrough went down 3-1 at the Ripon centre to Sunderland Health and Racquets.

Parker, the Ripon club's first coach when the centre opened seven years ago, was bidding to steer his side into the national final where they were runners up last season.

But his partnership with Sean Damer failed to secure victory in two matches.

But if Parker's return did not produce a silver lining simply hosting the event was a red letter day for the Ripon centre and its manager Dennis Thompson.

Thompson said: "We were extremely pleased to be hosting the event with players producing such a high standard of play."

Ripon is also the venue for a number of Lawn Tennis Associaton qualifying events this year.

Scores - Middlesbrough Tennis World 1 Sunderland Health and Racquets 3 (Middlesbrough names first): Nigel Beavers and Mark Franklin lost to Adam Barratclough and Ainsley Kershaw 4-6, 2-6; beat Graeme Foreman and Nathan Lundy 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Brent Parker and Sean Damer lost to Barratclough and Kershaw 1-6, 2-6; lost to Foreman and Lundy 3-6, 3-6.

N-E Premier League

Young Wearsiders Adam Barraclough from Fulwell and Ainsley Kershaw from Tunstall powered Invicta Sunderland to victory in the final of the Brown Shipley League last Saturday in Ripon.

As first couple for their team they were unbeaten in the 3-1 success over defending champions Tennis World Middlesbrough; with Graeme Foreman from South Shields and Nathan Lundy from the Barnes area in Sunderland proving the third rubber.

The last occasion the two sides met was the league fixture in December which the Teessiders won. But on the occasion the chance to be top dogs in the North East and Sunderland team was very emphatic in its determination and gave Tennis World hardly any scope at all.

Big hitting and consistent serving by Barraclough, 18, and Kershaw, 23, saw them sweep aside Tennis World's elder statesmen Sean Damer and Brent Parker in no time in the opening round for the loss of only three games. But the Teessider's Nigel Beavers and Mark Franklin, the former incidentally from Sunderland, as a leading county partnership for Durham and Cleveland, squared the match. They had to work hard for a win in three sets over Foreman and Lundy.

Damer, currently a coach and team player for Northumberland, though originally from Darlington, and Parker, Durham and Cleveland's best ever player, showed more in the second round but were still no match for Foreman and Lundy. The other contest meanwhile had been eagerly anticipated by both teams and the many onlookers at the Ripon Tennis Centre.

Tennis World's Beavers and Franklin as the more experienced pairing were the favourites but the serving power and solid groundstrokes of the lefthanded Barraclough and the tall Kershaw saw them edge home by 6-4 in the first set, and then a little more easily in the second to clinch the rubber and the tie.

The Sunderland Health and Racquest Club tennis manager Gavin Sutcliffe said: "The boys did very well. I'm very happy for them. We expected a closer result but the victory was well earned."

Invicta will now represent the north east in the first ever national finals of the competition which was extended to the whole of the country in September last. There have been eight regional sections in total, with the Sunderland Racquets club the best of 16 teams from Yorkshire, Durham and Cleveland.

Helping to take top spot in the North Division had also been Guy Galpin, Sean Galpin, Gavin Sutcliffe, and Alex Robinson. Invicta had won the group with 29 points and one defeat only in seven fixtures. The inter-division playoffs had seen them dismiss Queens Halifax and Carnegie Leeds before the recent final triumph