Tournament referee Bev Cairns has fired a warning shot to the city's tennis fraternity after one of the lowest entries in years at the City of York Junior Tennis Championships.

Numbers were down by almost half on last year leading to the under-16 girls' section being scrapped altogether, and Lawn Tennis Association coach Cairns believes the ever-decreasing entry will soon impact on the senior championships as well, which has already complained of falling numbers.

She said: "The championships have been very poorly supported this year with entries down by between five to 60 per cent despite the tournament being brought forward a week to encourage more interest.

"As an LTA coach in addition to being the referee, my role is to encourage competition and match play as well as a love for the game, and the lack of support for the championships does not bode well for the senior event in the future nor tennis in general.

"There is little point in belonging to a club or receiving coaching if you never actually play a game and learn how to compete, even in a low-key match."

Despite the low numbers, the quality of tennis on show was still something to be celebrated.

Group 'A' of the under-10 boys ended with Dominic Shread tied with last year's champion, Scott Shepherd, at the top with ten games each, but it was Shread who went through after beating Shepherd in the rounds.

In the final, he met group 'B' winner Mathew Williams, who had edged out Robin Elliott by two games.

Shread won the final 6-0 after some great baseline play, despite some aggressive volleying by his opponent.

A similar scenario in the under-12 boys saw group 'A' winner David McKenzie James see off Joe Fox by two games, while Jonathan Cordingly progressed from the other group despite holding the same number of games as Charlie Taylor, after beating Taylor earlier on.

Cordingly beat McKenzie James 7-5 after mixing up baseline rallies with neat net play to counteract McKenzie James' powerful serve.

Reigning under-12s champion Chris Baughan settled into life in the under-14s with ease after cruising through to the semi-finals with 12 games to Andrew Smith's 11.

Stefan Armstrong won group 'B' with 13 games, Daniel Williams the closest with eight, and both groups 'C' and 'D' were narrowly clinched.

David Phillips sneaked past Christopher Burns by two games, and Mathew Shepherd scored 16 games to Will Peeke-Vout's 14.

The final saw Phillips' tactical supremacy triumph over Shepherd 7-0 in a display of excellent tennis and sportsmanship.

Rain further reduced the under-16 boys' entry after a delayed start but the regulars who remained contributed to a high-quality display with 2003 finalist James Walker narrowly making the final after beating last year's champion, Daniel Bruce, by a single game in the group stage.

Reigning under-14s champion Jonny Holbek edged out Ben Storey in the other group to set up a final with Walker, who won 7-4 in probably the best showdown in some years.

Only two entries in the under-10 girls meant a straight final between Emma Loten and Charlotte Worsman, won by Loten 6-1 with umpire Terry Haw watching over proceedings.

The under-12 girls' event was abandoned because of rain and will be played at York at a later date.

The under-14 girls' competition almost went the way of the under-16 girls' - scrapped because of a lack of numbers - but the referee devised a competitive format to give players a chance to play.

In two heavily depleted groups, Fay Chapman missed out by a single game to a determined Sophie Evans, and Emma Pauw lost by one game to Joanne Middleton.

In the final, Middleton beat Evans 7-4 in a match which included a series of lengthy rallies.

Updated: 08:45 Wednesday, July 28, 2004