Earl Leader returned to the Coral Beach and Tennis Club courts to exact sweet revenge over Ted Hoehn as he teamed with Janet Green to capture the BLTC Invitational Century Mixed title over top seeds Hoehn and Nanny Vanneck, winning 6-2, 6-4.

A day earlier Hoehn had soundly beaten Leader in straight sets to take the men?s singles 55 title and in the doubles clash it was evident Leader was on a mission from the first point as he cracked a forehand winner past his opponent.

Raising the level of her game in support of Leader, Green was everywhere she needed to be as the pair won several crucial points during the course of the match. The way they both played drew praise from their opponents.

?Earl played very well today,? said Hoehn. ?He went for all of his shots and because he and Janet were so consistent we were never allowed to really get into the match.?

Even though they took the first set 6-2, the turning point came in the eighth game of the second set when Vanneck served trailing 3-4. In that game Leader and Green saved five game points to take a 5-3 lead and then closed out the match when Leader held after Hoehn had made it 4-5 by holding his serve.

?Earl really engineered this victory,? said Green. ?In the final point of the eighth game, he told me that when Nanny serves to me, I was to hit the ball down the line, no matter what.

?Sure enough when she served and I played it down the line, Ted had just moved into centre court and it was a clear winner that put us up 5-3.?

Meanwhile, the highly anticipated duel for the men?s open doubles crown never materialised as the Way brothers, Brian and Michael, made surprisingly light work on their way to the title with a straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) victory over Stuart Smith and Reto Krauer.

When Smith was asked what happened, he replied: ?We just didn?t play well at the same time, and even then we didn?t take our chances.?

Earlier Kelly Way was handed the Ladies Open singles crown when Maureen O?Berg retired hurt while leading 3-2 in the opening set.

?I started to feel these cramps in both calfs and I?ve had this before and no matter how long I rested, when I started to run again, they would come back, so I just thought it best to quit while I was ahead,? said O?Berg.

In the men?s singles final, Chris Watson held his own for the first six games, but after that it was all downhill as Michael Way gave his opponent a lesson in placement, winning the title 6-3, 6-1.

?I could have played smarter,? said Watson, ?but Mike played well.?

In a match that caught the eye of the gallery, Gill Butterfield and Laverne Stowe had to dig deep in order to defeat Kelly Holland and Barbara Lambert in a three-set marathon 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.

The Mixed Doubles final is scheduled to be completed at midday today.

Holland and Krauer completed the first set yesterday following rain on Saturday that halted play with them leading 4-2. They completed that set yesterday, winning 6-3, and were down one game in the second set when play was stopped again because of rain.