GILES DAVEY pulled off a hat-trick of victories at the finals of the Kent Messenger Winter Tennis tournament.

But the Staplehurst player won two of his prestigeous titles without having to pick up a racket.

Davey won the men's singles and the mixed events when Zane Cheeseman conceded both finals.

Cheeseman, a coach at Horsmonden, learned a couple of days before the finals that he would not be allowed to miss a day's coaching at his club and had to scratch from both events.

His unexpected withdrawal somewhat marred finals day and meant that spectators at the Bearsted and Thurnham club missed out on what are usually two of the best and most exciting matches.

But all the other players in the annual event made sure there was plenty of good tennis on one of the best finals days weather-wise the tournament has ever enjoyed.

After his walk-over in the singles and the mixed - where he was partnered by clubmate Annabelle Watson - Davey finally got on court to successfully defend his men's doubles title with Mark Honey from Tunbridge Wells.

The hard-hitting pair proved too strong for Gravesham's Dave Henderson and Lee Donovan winning the match 6-2, 6-3.

Another man who came within a whisker of winning three titles was Alan Wilmshurst. The Tunbridge Wells player, who has supported the KM tournament for many years, won the men's veterans singles title with a good 6-4, 6-3 win over Dave Henderson.

He also partnered Sarah Van Doren to victory in the mixed vets final defeating Margate's Mike and Gaynor Mayer 6-2, 6-4.

But in the last, longest and most entertaining of the finals, he just failed to complete the hat-trick when he and Staplehurst's Dave Balow lost in a tie-break third set to Terry Clare and Dave Craddock from Medway.

Even the circumstances of defeat were cruel - at 6-7 down in the tie-break and facing match point the umpire correctly called a shot from Craddock out but changed his call on the advice of a linesman and Wilmshurst's chance of winning all the vets titles had gone.

Earlier Christine Lewis from Maidstone won the ladies singles crown 6-1, 6-1 with a good display against young Melanie Calloway from Faversham.

In the ladies doubles Gaynor Mayer and Wendy Munday proved too strong for Staplehurst's Ros and Annabelle Watson winning 6-0, 6-1 and in the vets ladies doubles Mayer again enjoyed a comfortable victory 6-0, 6-0 with Beckenham's Kim Sahagian over Bearsted's Myra Hunter and Di Bennett from Knockholt.

Sam Brown from Maidstone won the boys title beating Ben Holmes, also from Maidstone, 6-3, 6-2 while two Bexley girls, Loren Doer and Katie Sewell, played some sparkling tennis in a superb and closely fought match.

Doer took the title 6-2, 6-4 but was made to work very hard by her teammate and club doubles partner.

* Entry forms for next year's tournament will begin appearing in Kent Messenger Group publications in October.