TWO of Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club’s more talented players almost faced each other today (Wednesday) in the final round of qualifying for the men’s singles in the LTA Lexus British Tour event.

Thomas Horsley, 20, from Addingham, kept his side of the bargain by defeating seventh seed, 19-year-old Glaswegian Finlay Watters 4-3 (3), 4-2.

However, 22-year-old left-hander Thomas Horsfall, from Settle, could not make it through to meet his pal, going down 4-2, 4-1 to 16-year-old Joseph Mazingham from Beverley.

Play in the British Tour was again confined to the club’s five indoor courts due to rain, and the Fast 4 format was also retained by referee Peter Grimsdale to speed the matches through.

Tactically astute home club member Horsley, who is at Adelphi University on New York’s Long Island, said afterwards: “I felt quite good coming into the tournament, was playing decent tennis and I am happy with how I have played here.

“In a tie-break, you have to focus on every point, and I played really well to get to 5-0 up and he missed a couple as well, and then, for some reason, I got tight because you should never lose a tie-break from being 5-0 up.

“I was glad to come through that 7-3 and then reset and get back to playing how I was, and the early break in a Fast 4, like I got in the second set, is massive as you only have to hold serve three times and you are through.”

Another Yorkshireman is guaranteed to get through qualifying as Roundhay coach Tom Cowdy, seeded third, plays Harry Abel from the John Charles Centre for Sport Leeds.

Other contenders are 6ft 8in top seed Vassili Psaltopoulos from Headingley, a 26-year-old who plays for Leeds Beckett University; 14th seed Ryan Carrick from Harrogate;, Luke Hoyland (John Charles Centre for Sport Leeds) and Sebastian Harrison, from Sheffield’s Graves Health and Sports Centre.

Qualifying for the women’s singles started yesterday, and there was early success for Heaton Tennis Club’s Folasade Aladese, who defeated clubmate Vanessa Mueller 4-3 (8), 4-2.

Aladese now plays Gracie Hurley (David Lloyd Club Swansea), who is the second seed in qualifying.

Also through to the final qualifying round is Rose O’Donovan McCann, from York St John University Tennis Centre, who faces sixth seed Anna Micu.

The women’s singles main draw will start today[Wednesday], with the men’s singles main draw beginning tomorrow[Thursday].