TWO sisters turned the finals of the big Kent Messenger Winter Tennis tournament into a real family affair on Sunday.

Holly and Abby Cheeseman, from Maidstone, played against each other in the ladies singles and then teamed up to contest the ladies doubles event.

And their achievement was all the more remarkable because these 'ladies' are in fact teenage schoolgirls and two of the youngest players to get to the finals of the senior events.

Both girls play at the Maidstone club and their singles match turned into a long see-saw battle with 16-year-old Holly taking the first set 6-4 but losing the second to 15-year-old Abby 1-6. The deciding set was closer than the 6-0 scoreline suggested with Holly taking the title.

In the ladies doubles, the last match on court after a long day of finals at the Bearsted and Thurnham Club, the sisters became the youngest winners of the event when they beat Jane Gentle and Jane Humphrys from the Dragons Club, Maidstone, 6-2, 6-4.

Once again, the winter tournament finals had a lucky escape from the weather. Storms had been forecast all day but the first drops of rain didn't fall until moments after the last ball had been hit.

In the boys singles, Maidstone's Jamie Brown won a long and entertaing match against Tom Samson from Allington. He took the first set 6-3, lost the second 2-6 but finally took the title with a nail-biting tie-break victory in the third.

The girls champion this year is Ffion Newberry from Canterbury who was awarded her trophy after opponent Clare Jones pulled out with an injury.

There were two eagerly awaited matches, the men's singles and men's doubles, and both turned out to be very watchable with tennis of the highest standard.

In the singles, former champion Zane Cheeseman, club coach at Horsmonden, took on Maidstone's James Kidner who had produced some good wins on his path to the final. In a long and tough match, Kidner took the title with a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

Cheeseman again featured in the doubles final when he teamed up with his coaching boss Australian Mike Roi to take on Staplehurst's Giles Davey and Mark Honey from Tunbridge Wells, who have been champions for the past four years.

In previous finals the hard hitting Davey and Honey have been too powerful for their opponents but they met their match in Roi and Cheeseman and the Horsmonden pair won 6-3, 6-4.

The mixed doubles final was another top match which saw Margate's Brian MIleham and Wendy Munday come back after losing the first set 3-6 to Kidner and Gentle to win the next two 7-5, 6-2.

In the veterans events, Dave Balow and Alan Wilmshurst saw plenty of each other through the day.

In the singles, Wilmshurst retained his title with a 6-3, 6-3 win while in the mixed event Balow and club partner Alison Meakin came back well after losing the first set 1-6 to dethrone champions Wilmshurst and his club partner Sarah Van Doren taking the next two 7-5, 6-1.

In the men's final, Balow and Wilmshurst teamed up but lost to Medway's Terry Clare and Dave Craddock going down 6-1 in the second set after narrowly losing the first 7-5.

A trophy even eluded Jane Gentle in the veterans when she and Jane Humphrys lost a long encounter with Bearsted's Myra Hunter and partner Diane Bennett from Knockholt who won 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

At the trophy presentations tournament chairman and referee Alan Mole was thanked for his hard work in making sure all the knockout rounds were completed and the Bearsted club thanked for their wonderful hospitality to the players, umpires and spectators.

Entry forms for next year's tournament will appear in Kent Messenger Group publications in the autumn.