AS on Saturday, a day of continuous rain eased in time for last night's Bolton Tennis Championship matches scheduled for 5.45pm to start on time.

Competitors from David Lloyd booked indoor courts for their matches and some courts at Lostock and Markland Hill were also put to use.

Ben Clark, entering the competition for the first time, made short work of ending the reign of the current men's singles title holder, Steve Darlington with a resounding 6-1, 6-1 victory.

Clark is seeded four in the men's singles so is one of the men regarded as posing a serious threat to ending the championships with the silverware Darlington won 12 months ago.

The seedings are based on the players' national Lawn Tennis Association ratings and is an indication of the strength of this year's entries.

As the competition reaches its final stages there will be some excellent tennis to be watched judging from the early indications.

In the handicap competitions it is looking like anyone in three events will progress in at least one of them.

For Lostock's Gary Daley this has not proved to be the case, however.

In the veterans' men's handicap doubles, playing with fellow Lostock player Stuart Roach they lost 6-4, 6-4 in two close sets to the David Lloyd pairing of Brian Pyke and Dave Slamin.

In the open age men's doubles handicap the same Lostock pair lost 6-3, 6-2 to Hawkshaw's Adam Thompson and Steve Cross.

Daley's other chance came in the handicap mixed event. He had Holcombe's Susan Welch as a partner and they were being given a point every game by opponents Richard Bracewell and Hattie Morley but still lost in two sets, albeit by a narrow 6-5, 6-5 margin.

Kath Taylor and Dave Bedford were sent to Lostock where they beat Mark Pearson and his niece Miranda Whitby 6-5, 6-4. This was some consolation for a 6-2, 6-1 defeat at the hands of Kath's husband, Andy Taylor, playing with Maria Fallon.