Brown Shipley North East Premier League - Scan Galpin, 14, from Washington, and his 20-year-old partner Ainsley Kershaw of Sunderland produced the upset of the week- end in the Northern Division's final round of matches of the NEPL by beating Academy Harrogate's top pair Yorkshire county players David Drake and Doug Keen, previously without defeat.

Their club Invicta Sunderland went down however by six sets to five In the 'match of the season', which enabled Academy to take third place In the final table, and left themselves in fifth spot and out of the top four playoff with the Southern Division's loading teams.

Tennis World Middlesbrough meanwhile took the league title with 26 points and six wins after beating Puma Sunderland 3-1 away; that one point sufficient to put the Wearsiders In fourth place.

David Lloyd Teesside had an easy 4-0 win at home to Durham University and finished with 26 points also but the one victory less than Puma placed them second. Invicta and Academy were one-all at half time, with the Galpin/Kershaw partnership winning for the home side and Drake/Keen for Academy. The Yorkshire club was 3-2 ahead on sets and plus tour in games. The Doxford Park couples struck first In the second half of play against their opposite numbers, only for the visitors' to draw level. Whilst Guy Galpin, older brother, and Gavin Sutcliffe, head coach, eventually lost out to Jason Torpey and Rob Taylor in three sets, a tremendous battle for personal supremacy was fought out on court one. Galpin and Kershaw were trading service wins from 6-3 3-6 with Keen and Drake. but eventually made a little history by snatching the deciding tiebreak by seven points to three. Too late! Nigel Beavers and Mark Franklin, Tennis World's top couple, got the better of Durham and Cleveland county colleagues Adam Barratclough and Graham Fowler by 7-5 3-6 6-4 in the second half of play at Puma Sunderland to manage a slightly unexpected 3-1 success and top the table for the title.

The half time score of one-all was increased by one through Andrew Deeley and Nick Osborne for TW before Beavers and Franklin sneaked home for a third point and a win bonus. Puma lost for only the second time and amassed 22 points In total to pip local rivals Invicta for fourth place.

Puma Sunderland 1 Tennis World Middlesbrough 3

Adam Barratclough and Graham Fowler lost to Nigel Beavers and Mark Franklin 5-7 6-3 4-6, beat Andrew Deeley and Nick Osborne 6-0 6-4; Steven Baker and Richard Whitfield lost to Beavers and Franklin 2-6 2-6, lost to Deeley and Nick Osborne 5-7 6-3 4-6.

David Lloyd Teesside gained maximum points from Durham University whose multinational students could not produce the form of the previous weekend when they took two rubbers off Puma. One reason was the unfortunate injury to captain Andy Pyner in the first set of play. and another change of players. So Ben O'Connor and John Weeks, Matt Whittaker and Alan Smith had a comfortable 4-0 success and dropped fourteen games only in all.

David Lloyd Teesside 4, Durham University 0.

Ben O'Connor and John Weeks wo Andy Pyner and Mark Sheikh, beat Kimon Apostolides and James Moldrum 6-1 6-2; Alan Smith and Matt Whitaker beat Pyner amd Sheikh 6-4 retd., beat Apostolides amd Meldrum 6-3 6-4.