The 2011 Rye Open Tennis Tournament saw more than 270 players from all over the world competing in glorious sunshine. There were some shock results in the men's singles when several 'big names' were defeated by the eventual finalists, Charlie Turney and Steve Bates, both of whom were new to the event. With Turney (on the left of the picture) suffering a back injury in his semi-final, Bates defeated his ailing opponent 6-1, 6-2. By contrast, in the ladies' singles, the top two seeds reached the final and World Ladies' Singles Champion and number one seed Anthea Stewart regained her title by overcoming Arabella Martin 6-3, 6-4 in a hard-fought contest. There was an international flavour to the men's doubles final as New Zealand international Mark Hadley (on the right of the picture) and Joe Tassell (Kent and Queen's Club) beat Alessandro Miotto (Italy) and Matthew Leahy (Surrey) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a very exciting match. The ladies' doubles decider was a closely contested duel between Annabel Watson and Karen Hazzard of Queen's Club and the Hurlingham duo Arabella Martin and Antonia Smallbone, with the Queen's pair (right) retaining their title 6-4, 7-5. Arabella Martin finally triumphed in the mixed doubles as she teamed up with Dutch international Alex Soeters to get the better of James Acheson Gray (Hampshire) and Katie Purnell (London) 6-2, 6-4.

The subsequent Junior Tournament attracted more than 400 entries from all over the South-East. In the singles, Eliza Wallis defeated Amelia Baker 6-4 in the final (right, with organiser Cathy Bingham) and Freddie Petch (on the right of the picture) overcame Ed Herring 6-2. Sadly, heavy rain led to loss of play on the second day, but the young all came together for a hog roast and disco in the evening. On the Friday, Olivia Simpson and James Curtis triumphed 6-4 in a closely contested final against Phoebe Gale and Toby Houchin.

The Closed Tournament on Saturday was also rained off before the finals could be completed. These will be played in the near future. The mixed doubles, on a very blustery Sunday, were disrupted by the unexpected arrival of a tent on Court 7 - before Anthea Stewart and Freddie Menzies (far right with organiser John Farmer) went on to narrowly beat the husband and wife pairing of Stuart and Melissa Mitchell in the final.