St Ambrose College tennis players are warming up for their county final against local rivals Altrincham Grammar School in the Cheshire section of the Aegon National Schools Cup.

It is the first year St Ambrose has entered the competition with teams competing from Year 7 up to Year 10 with the senior team winning through to the final with wins against Lymm High School, The Grange and Altrincham Boys’ Grammar B team.

The Year 10 team has only lost one set en route to the final and, as St Ambrose tennis coach Alex Evans said, ‘is leading the way in showcasing what is a relatively new sport to the college’.

He added: “Though we play our matches out of Hale Barns Tennis Club, where there are sand based artificial turf courts, we now see up to 30 boys practising week in week out on our own artificial turf courts and the sport is getting more and more popular week by week.”

The team pictured from the front are; Jasper Kearns, 15, from Knutsford, who plays at Timperley Tennis Club; John Shellien, 15, from Handforth, who plays out of Prestbury; James McDaid, 14, from Heald Green, who plays out of David Lloyd Cheadle;  and the team’s number one Peter Alam, who is ranked third in the UK and plays out of Bolton.