East Lothian ready for tennis event

The annual East Lothian 
Tennis Championships gets under way this weekend at North Berwick and Dunbar, with Jimmy Wood (Braid) and Alicia Robinson (Falkirk) top seeds for the singles.

Among the challengers to Wood will be Italian visitors Gabriel Raineri and Paolo Conti, while defending champion Hannah Watson (St Serfs) is expected to pose a threat to Robinson, who has played qualifying events for the Challenger tour. Gary Melville (Braid) and Fraser Stirling (Livilands) will be defending the men’s doubles while Dunfermline’s Fiona Reid and Zoe Henderson are seeded to contest the women’s doubles final with Hannah Watson and Lesley Tait (St Serfs).

Watson will team up with 
co-organiser Mark Gaffney in the mixed doubles, where they are top seeds ahead of Jonny Short and Lesley Thomas. A wheelchair event is again included after proving successful last year, while touch tennis has also been added. Total entry has increased to more than 400 competitors.