WITH THE county under-age stars in action in this competition the previous week, this time around it was the turn of the adults to take to the courts in the Victor Sports-sponsored Leinster Open championship.

Top Wexford performer was Laura Butler (Davidstown) who picked up a runner-up medal in the ladies' doubles and reached the semi-final of the ladies' singles. Butler and partner Jennifer King were the number two seeds in the ladies' doubles and justified their seeding by progressing to Sunday's afternoon final against the top seeds, Emma Calow and Sinéad Chambers from Ulster.

The Leinster pairing showed no nerves and got off to a flying start, taking the opening set 21-19. The second seeds then had an opportunity to cause an upset as both pairings matched one another point for point in the second set before the Lisburn duo just held out to win narrowly (21-19).

The final set was another hardfought affair, but the top seeds just held a slight advantage and closed it out to take the title 21-16.

Laura also progressed to the ladies' singles semi-final, with the highlight being her quarter-final victory over the former Irish Senior champion, Jennifer King. Laura lost the opening set 21-17 to King, but showed good courage to fight back and take the next two sets 21-18, 2117 to set up a semi-final meeting with top seed Sinéad Chambers.

Chambers always held the upper hand in the semi-final encounter, but was made to work hard for her 2112, 21-13 victory over the improving Wexford player. It was a good weekend for the Davidstown player who also made the mixed doubles quarter-final, before she and William Gourley lost to Mark Cobbe and Kirsty Kelly 21-18, 21-17.

Laura Lynch (New Ross) and her partner, Norma McIntyre, advanced to the semi-final of the ladies' doubles with some fine performances en route. They had a narrow 21-15, 17-21, 21-17 victory in their opening game against the Ulster and Muster combination of Hannah Orr and Ciara Pender.

A quarter-final defeat of Grace Webster and Siobhán Grehan (2112, 21-18) put them into Sunday morning's semi-final against Emma Calow and Sinéad Chambers. The overnight break did the Wexford/Dublin pairing no favours, however, and they rarely troubled the top seeds, losing 21-11, 21-13.

Laura was eliminated in her opening game in the ladies' singles, losing 21-14, 21-14 to Kirsty Kelly. Laura also went out early in the mixed doubles when she and partner Dave Waller lost 21-18, 21-15 to Conor Hickland and Hannah Orr.

The improving Vincent Mackay made the men's singles quarter-finals with victories over Gavin Higgins and Fiach O'Rourke. This is Mackay's first year on the national circuit, and the Eagles player turned in his best performances of the season with a 21-17, 17-21, 21-11 victory over Higgins and an impressive 21-16, 2115 defeat of O'Rourke.

Mackay faced a daunting task in his quarter-final match where he played the Irish international and third seed, Niall Tierney. It seemed to be all too much for the Wexford player in the opening set as the experienced Tierney dominated to win 21-6. The second set, however, was a different matter as Mackay matched his opponent ace for ace, before losing narrowly 24-22.

Alan Mackay overcame Welsh opposition in his opening men's singles encounter, defeating Richard Morrissey in three exciting sets (2116, 18-21, 21-14). The Wexford player found himself on the wrong end of a three-set defeat in the next round as he was eliminated by Andrew McKee from Ulster (21-17, 17-21, 21-11).

The brothers Mackay teamed up for the doubles and made the quarter-finals, before losing in three sets (22-24, 21-19, 21-9) to Scott Burnside and Conor Hickland - the fourth competition in a row that they were eliminated in a three sets encounter.

Both Tomás Power (Shelburne) and Liam Sinnott (Eagles) withdrew from the men's singles competition prior to the event.