HAMPSHIRE'S Nick Weal continues to expand his lead on the Girobank Tour's points table after reaching the final of last week's event at Havant - the final event of the 1999 British grass court season.

The overall winner of last year's Girobank Tour, Weal heads this week's table with 1060 points, one place higher than Lee-on-Solent's Paul Hand, on 840 points. Bristol's Nick Gould, who led the event for the first four months of the year, has dropped into third place with 685 points.

Whilst Hand offers the immediate threat, Hampshire's Chris Wilkinson could still pose an overall challenge to the 1999 title.

The former British number three from Southampton, who retired from full-time competition earlier this summer while declaring he would continue on the Girobank Tour, moved back into this week's top ten for the first time since April after defeating Weal in the final at The Avenue Lawn Tennis Club, Havant.

Weal took the second set 6-1 but Wilkinson came through in the end for a 6-4 1-6 6-1 success.

Wilkinson had beaten Hand in the semi-final while Weal overcame former Davis Cup player Nick Gould.

Weal heads the entry on the Girobank Tour in a fortnight's time at Cardiff.

Bournemouth's Kate Warne-Holland reached the semi-finals of the ladies event but lost to South African Mareze Joubert who went on to beat Russia's Natasha Egorova in the final.

The Girobank Tour is a series of domestic tournaments (27 in total) providing competitive opportunities for both experienced senior players as well as those making the transition from junior to international competition.

A total tournament prize fund of £150,000 is on offer for the 1999 events plus the most successful men's and ladies' player of the year will receive the Girobank Bonus Pool prize of £2,000.

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