WILTSHIRE’S under 12s boys and girls tennis teams have both qualified for the national finals in Bolton later this month.

The two squads won their qualifying groups at the AEGON U12 County Cup at the end of June and will now bid to be crowned national champions next weekend when they take on seven other counties from across the UK.

The boys’ team are captained by Will Baillie, head coach at Devizes Tennis Club, and played their qualifying event at Burnham on Sea.

The team of Oliver Martin (Team Bath), Edred Opie (Next Generation Swindon/Chippenham TC), Stanley Brown (Next Generation Swindon) and Rio Moss (Riverside TC, Salisbury) lost 5-4 to Cornwall in the group stage but then beat Avon 6-2 to move into the semi-finals.

There they beat Devon 6-2 and then won the final against Avon 5-4 via a tiebreak shootout.

The girls team is made up of Amelia Bissett (Team Bath), Jessica Doerr (Next Generation Swindon), Ellen Jones (Next Generation Swindon) and Beatrice Watts (Devizes TC) and are captained by Steve Yeardley, head coach at Next Generation, Swindon.

They played their qualifying event at Devizes and did not drop a set in their group matches against Cornwall and Avon, winning both 8-0.

The same scoreline followed in their semi-final against Gloucestershire and they then saw off Somerset 7-1 in the final.