Welsh veteran wins in Scotland

Paul Dancey on 05/03/2012

Veteran South Wales tennis player Chris Hill from Abertillery beat French number one, Francis Boyer to win the Scottish Open over-55s championship.

Hill (pictured centre with Tennis Scotland president Christine Windmill and runner-up Francis Boyer), beat Boyer, 6-3 1-6 6-2, having overcome three highly-ranked English players, Michael Webster (Lancashire), Miles Collett (Yorkshire) and Tony Marchetti (Oxfordshire), to reach the final.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) event, hosted by Tennis Scotland at the Scotstoun Centre, Glasgow, also saw Cumbria-based Gary Payton from North Wales reach the over-50s final, where he lost 3-6 1-6 to Cary Wilson of Canada.

Hill, who won the British over-50s indoor title last month, said he hoped the result would boost his ITF world ranking.

"This could place me in the top five players in Britain, which would be a tremendous achievement," said Hill, who coaches at Crickhowell, Brecon and Blaenau Gwent, and who was shortlisted for the Tennis Wales coach of the year award in 2011.

Peter Drew, chief executive of Tennis Wales, added: "Chris is having a fantastic year and flying the flag for Wales in the top competitions around Britain. Congratulations to him for a superb achievement, which shows that tennis is one of the few sports that offers the potential of serious competition for players of all ages."

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