THE rain and overcast conditions may have been welcomed by the London Marathon runners on Sunday, but they didn't help players taking part in the finals of the Kent Messenger Winter Tennis tournament.

Play was scheduled to start at 10.30 but with persistent rain falling umpires were reluctant to begin on time and it wasn't until after noon that the finals began at the Bearsted and Thurnham club.

It was still raining, but most of the competitors decided to go on court rather than abandon one of the most eagerly awaited days in Kent's winter tennis calendar.

And the good sized crowd who had stayed on in the damp conditions were rewarded with some great matches.

There was a cracking men's doubles final where the standard of play was tremendous, a thrilling and competitive girls' singles match between two talented and promising youngsters, and an exciting and emotional final match in the men's veterans doubles.

Despite the weather and the late start, nine of the scheduled 11 finals were played on Sunday leaving only the ladies' singles and the vets men's singles to be completed at a later date.

First on court was the men's doubles, which saw last year's winner Zane Cheeseman and new partner Dan Betts up against last year's losing finalists and former champions Giles Davey and Mark Honey from Tunbridge Wells.

In 2005, Cheeseman partnered fellow Horsmonden club coach Mike Roi to victory in a big hitting match and this time the power and high standard was maintained by new partner Betts, a coach at the new David Lloyd tennis centre at King's Hill, West Malling.

Davey and Honey played some superb tennis and established a three game lead in the second set, after losing a tight first. But Cheeseman and Betts were also in great form and kept the coolest under pressure to win 6-4, 6-4.

Cheeseman made it a double success later in the day when he beat Davey 6-3, 6-1 in the final of the men's singles - another match that had great shot-making and entertained the spectators.

Margate's Gaynor Hawkins enjoyed a double success when she partnered clubmate Wendy Munday to a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Maidstone's Holly and Abby Cheeseman in the ladies doubles final and then had a comfortable victory with Sally Holmes against Jane Gentle and Jane Humphrey from the Dragons Club, Maidstone, in the vets ladies doubles.

Wendy Munday also picked up her second trophy in the mixed doubles when she and club partner Brian Mileham played powerful and controlled tennis to beat Mark Honey and Sevenoaks partner Carolyn Brown 6-2, 6-1.

The boys singles was another good match with Margate's Robert Bolt proving too strong on the day for Joshua Holmes from the Maidstone club winning 6-2, 6-1.

The girls singles between Lisa Reid from New Ash Green and Ditton's Francesca Faulks was a classic. The two youngsters battled it out for nearly two hours in steady rain with the match see-sawing one way then the other.

Often these junior encounters consist of just long baseline rallies, but both youngsters showed an amazing array and variety of shots and both held their nerve in tough situations. Reid lost the first set without winning a game, but came back to take the second 6-2. Then began a thrilling deciding set which finally went to a tie-break and was won by Reid.

This year saw new vets mixed doubles champions when Keith Clark from Margate and Herne Bay's Ann Gibb, who had impressive wins throughout the earlier rounds, beat champions Dave Balow and Alison Meakin from Staplehurst 6-1, 6-2.

Balow has appeared in 14 of the 15 vets men's doubles finals over the past years - and lost them all. So when he and partner Alan Wilmshurst from Tunbridge Wells found themselves 5 games to love and 30-0 down in the deciding set to Margate's Mike Mayer and Keith Clark it looked like history would repeat itself.

But Balow and Wilmshurst staged an amazing recovery and won seven games in a row to take the title 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.

The ladies singles between Holly Cheeseman and Canterbury's Beth Pryor and the vets men's singles between Balow and Wilmshurst will be played at a later date.

Once again the Bearsted and Thurham club proved perfect hosts for the finals providing lunches and teas for the officials and spectators.

Forms for next year's KM Winter tournament, which is open to all standard of players, will appear in all Kent Messenger Group publications in the autumn.