Borders youngsters make it to end-of-season national tennis finals

West Linton’s Adam Clunie and Earlston’s Lara Abdrabbo, having both won titles at the Scottish Junior Closed Tennis Championships held at Craiglockhart in Edinburgh in the summer, went on to compete in the sport’s end-of-season national singles finals at Scotstoun Leisure Centre in Glasgow.

Despite being only 10, Lara was the top seed in the under-11 girls’ class and lived up to that billing by only dropping a single game all tournament en route to winning the title by beating Nikemi Olafare, securing a winning double after her earlier under-10 girls’ title success.

Adam beat the top seed in his class to reach the under-16 boys’ final but then lost out in straight sets to the number two seed from Glasgow, Kyle McKay, and the 16-year-old also made it to the semi-finals at under-18 level, getting knocked out at that stage by the eventual winner, Glasgow’s Jack Deveney.

Lara and Adam still train locally, with the former being helped by Live Borders’ athlete support programme, and take part in further sessions at the National Tennis Centre in Stirling.

Club programmes across the Borders are about to resume after the festive break. For more information, email [email protected]