NIGEL Skelton and Jill Rounce lifted the 30th Fulford Spring Tennis Cup with a great display of power and skill.

They defeated Govind Baker and Faye Garland in the final in the York area's traditional season curtain-raiser.

Forty players battled it out and produced some high class tennis.

In the semi-finals Skelton and Rounce saw off Martin Glassett and Eleanor Crooks 6-1 while Baker and Garland defeated Paul Birch and Karen Retief 6-3.

In the group games, top seeds Andrew Loadman and Kate Rorrison opened with a 6-1 first round victory over teenagers Tom Walker and Joanne Middleton in Group B', but the youngsters bounced back to win three of their five matches.

Loadman and Rorrison were also pushed hard by Baker and Garland before winning 4-3, but Baker and Garland chalked up four wins to top the group with 26 games - one more than runners-up Glassett and Crooks.

In the other group, past winners Bobby Frost and Susan Bass were just beaten by the odd game by Skelton and Rounce in their group match while Birch and Retief won four times to pile up 22 games. Richard Parker and Julie Reilly, beaten by Birch and Retief, also totalled 22 games.

Trophies were presented by Gerry Slack, president of the York Mixed Tennis League.