Family affair for Mair girls in finals

TENNIS: Suzi Mair played at Wimbledon in the 1980s – now three of her daughters will represent George Heriot’s School at this weekend’s AEGON British Team Challenge in Bolton.

Along with second year pupil, Gabriella Hussey, Tori Mair (third year) and twins Charlotte and Jessica (first year) qualified for the finals by winning the under-13 North of Britain Championship at the play-offs in Leeds.

Another three Scottish teams have made it to Bolton – Strathallan’s under-15 girls, the High School of Glasgow’s under-15 boys and Merchiston Castle’s under-13 boys.

At Leeds, the Heriot’s quartet whitewashed Queen Margaret’s 6-0 before clinching the finals place in a close tussle against Kirkham Grammar School. Tori, who is also an accomplished hockey player, showed great resilience in the last tie to come back from 1-4 down to win 6-4 which avoided a 3-3 draw.

The girls will take on another three teams – the South, East and West Champions – in Bolton and it is the first time Heriot’s have had a team reach this stage.

In the girls’ under-15 play-offs, Strathallan’s Amber Paterson, Francesca Blair, Vanessa Stewart and Anni Arthur beat St Peter’s School, York 6-0 in the semi-finals and Bradford Grammar School 4-0 in the final. In the Under-15s High School of Glasgow line-up, brothers Murray and Hamish Stewart are joined by James Shemilt and Calum Gibson-Smith.

Merchiston Castle’s Mackenzie Cox, Cameron Bowie, Jacob Fearnely and Alex Mikeev defeated the High School of Glasgow in the Scottish final of the Under-13 boys’ Championship.

At Leeds, the Edinburgh team defeated Canon Slade in the final match.

As with Heriot’s, it is the first time that Merchiston, which set up a tennis academy in 2007, has made it through to the final stage.