THE favourites battled their way through to the top honour as Denbigh Tennis Club held its annual mixed doubles tournament.

A total of 16 Denbigh players took to court for an enthralling event and the eventual winners were Meinir Hughes and Alex Carter.

The tournament has been renamed as the Alastair McNab Mixed Doubles Cup in memory of the club's former treasurer, who passed away in September 2017 aged 57.

Early on, players had to contend with damp courts.

Early favourites Meinir Hughes and Alex Carter began their 2018 challenge with a tight 3-2 victory against Wayne Cooper and Anne Spiller.

The pairs served well in the match on court one and they both progressed through to the semi-finals.

Hughes and Carter combined well throughout the group stage, joining forces for the first time in a competitive tournament.

They narrowly missed out in a 3-2 loss to their semi-final opponents Russell Jones and Gwennan Roberts in a closely fought group stage match.

Russell and Gwennan enjoyed a good run of their own, finishing third in the group with 20 points.

They played brilliantly in 4-1 victories against Steffan Jones / Lisa Carter and Cathryn Lloyd-Jones / Tony Jones.

The eventual group winners were ladies' singles runner-up Alison Godwin and her partner Sam Carter.

Both semi-finals were tight affairs that went the distance.

The opening last-four clash saw Alison Godwin / Sam Carter taking an early 2-0 lead versus John Plumb / Agnes Carter.

However, they then squandered their advantage, with Plumb and Carter winning 3-2 to reach the final.

The other semi-final witnessed a titanic clash between Russell Jones / Gwennan Roberts and Alex Carter / Meinir Hughes.

All four players served well to make the contest 2-2, before Carter served for a place in the final.

Jones / Roberts missed out in six match points at deuce, before Carter / Hughes had seven match points of their own.

With a good serve-volley play from Carter, he edged his team through.

The final was played in the warmth of the sunshine and on a dry court.

Superb serving from both pairs saw the scoreline reach 2-2, before some fantastic volleying from Hughes and brilliant running from Carter took them into a 5-2 lead.

Hughes, in her first year at Denbigh Tennis Club, then served for the cup and she did so in style.

Some deep and wide serves saw the score move to 40-15, while a good volley from Carter saw the pair take their first piece of silverware at the club since joining in recent years.

Denbigh Tennis Club can now look forward to the first ever North Wales Winter League over the 2018/19 season.

The club will have two men's teams, one ladies' side and a mixed doubles teams to contest the North Wales divisions.