Shropshire tennis players enjoy experience of playing at ITF World Tennis Masters Tour events

Shropshire tennis players continue to impress at ITF World Tennis Masters Tour events, with the number of county players competing at this level increasing all the time.

A host of Shropshire players have entered the MT700 Wrexham tournament - which was the British Open Masters Indoor Championships - and also the MT200 Liverpool tournament in recent weeks.

The ITF World Tennis Masters Tour is a global tennis Tour that provides players aged 30 and over with a high quality and enjoyable competitive experience.

Shropshire's Karen Sullivan, a member at Cound Tennis Club and David Lloyd Shrewsbury, was runner-up in the MT700 Wrexham event in the women's over-45s singles.

After topping her round robin group, Karen was beaten in the final by Maia Dunn. Karen also featured in a final a week earlier, this time at the MT200 Liverpool tournament, when she teamed up with Kathryn Cook to win the women's over-40s doubles title.

She was not the only Shropshire player to progress to a doubles finals at the Liverpool event.

Rob Rue, who plays at David Lloyd Shrewsbury and also represents Wales at international level, advanced to the final of the men's over-70s doubles alongside Michael Webster.

They were eventually beaten by Stephen Batte and Neil McPherson.

The all-Shropshire pairing of Mark Wilson and Calum Kennedy also enjoyed an impressive run to the final of the men's over-60s doubles in Liverpool.

Tennis Shropshire chair Mark, who plays at Wem Tennis Club, and Calum, who plays at Castle Country Club, won three matches before losing in the final against Marc Hughes and Geoffrey Muxworthy.

Their hopes of enjoying another good run the following week at Wrexham were dashed when Calum unfortunately tore a calf muscle during their first round match at Wrexham.

Shropshire was also represented at both Liverpool and Wrexham by Olly Lawrence and Andy Tellwright, who both play at Newport's Boughey Gardens, Wrekin & Telford Tennis Community's Patrick Wu, and Martin Shortt and Jon Cornes, from David Lloyd Shrewsbury.

Vicki Lightfoot, from Market Drayton Tennis Club, entered her first ITF World Tennis Masters Tour event at Wrexham, with fellow Shropshire players Louise Smith (Boughey Gardens Tennis Club), John Delaney (David Lloyd Shrewsbury) and Dave Williams (Market Drayton Tennis Club) also playing in North Wales.

Fiona Jones, the LTA Councillor for Tennis Shropshire, said: “It's fantastic to see that seniors tennis in Shropshire is in a very good place, as reflected by the impressive number of players from the county that competed in the ITF World Tennis Masters Tour events at Wrexham and Liverpool.

“It's particularly pleasing to see some players deciding to take part in their first tournaments at this level, so hopefully we will see the number of Shropshire players competing in these events continue to grow.”

Pictured: Shropshire's Karen Sullivan, left, won the women's over-40s doubles title at the MT200 Liverpool tournament. Karen was also runner-up in the over-45 singles at the MT700 Wrexham tournament, the the British Open Masters Indoor Championships.

Shropshire's Calum Kennedy and Mark Wilson, left, enjoyed an impressive run to the men's over-60s doubles final in Liverpool.

Shropshire's Rob Rue, second right, featured in the men's over-70s doubles final in Liverpool