FOR the second time in five years, the LTA British Tour men’s singles title at Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club has been won by a player from West Yorkshire.

In 2017, Luke Johnson defeated Clay Crawford 6-2, 7-6 in an exciting all-Leeds final, while yesterday Jordan Reed-Thomas, from Headingley, won his first British Tour title by seeing off the unseeded Alexander Maggs 6-4, 6-4 in 75 minutes.

Yorkshire county player Reed-Thomas, who was seeded fifth, was again forced to play indoors after rain badly affected the final four days of the tournament.

It has been a busy fortnight for Reed-Thomas, 26, as the previous week he had helped Yorkshire to promotion in Men’s Group Two of County Week in Manchester.

Redditch-based Maggs, 20, dropped his serve in the third game with a double fault, and Reed-Thomas gave him little chance of breaking back min the sixth game, serving four aces in five points to hold for 4-2.

Reed-Thomas, a former Leeds Beckett University student who now trains with their squad, won the first set in 34 minutes against his powerful opponent.

Maggs, who is about to start his third year at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, studying finance and economics, did save a break point in the fifth game of the second set, but dropped his serve two games later.

Coach Reed-Thomas held to love to go 5-3 in front but then showed fallibility for the first time in the match when serving for the title, and had to save two break points in a long game before winning.

Reed-Thomas, who wants to play full-time but needs more backing, said: “I played really well and served really well, so I was happy with that.

“Alexander played really well, was really aggressive and served huge and there was not much in it at the end.

“But I was definitely nervous in that last game as before I had been holding serve easily, but then I threw in those two double faults.

“Being a British Tour event at Ilkley definitely played a role in my nerves. It definitely means more to me to win one in your own county.”

Next up for Reed-Thomas, who earned £300 for his title triumph, is the National Club Doubles League finals in London, representing Roundhay Tennis Club, while he also has a British Tour event in Sutton to look forward to after that.

There was also a first-time LTA British Tour winner of the women’s singles in left-handed 16-year-old Ruby Hart.

The six-footer from Hampstead Garden Suburb in London defeated fourth seed Kira Reuter 6-2, 7-6 (9-7), recovering from 5-1 down in the tie-break.

Hart admitted: “I was quite nervous but I played well, although I got a bit tight when I had match points on her serve at 5-4 in the second set.

“However, then I played well in the tie-break.”

Hart wants to become a doctor, but first will prepare for taking A-Levels in biology, chemistry, maths and further maths and then study medicine at university.

Meanwhile, Reuter, who attends the University of California Santa Barbara, was just happy to be playing without pain after four years of problems with her knees.