THORPE Bay ladies are county champions in the Aegon League and have won a place in the Eastern Region play-offs as a result.

The team have finished top of the Essex Open Women's Division One, two points clear of Westcliff Lawn, and will take on rivals from the east of the country in the play-offs in July for a place in the regional section of the competition next summer.

They signed off their regular season looking for a victory and duly got it with a 12-0 win over basement team David Lloyd Southend.

Fourteen-year-old newcomer Nyah Kauders breezed through her singles 6-0 6-0 against Jane Jia and Georgia Wheatley made it a 100 per cent win record in the singles with a 6-1 6-1 win over Debra Saund.

Isabella Wolfe returned from her first year at university to beat Emily Dane 5-7 6-1 1-0 on a championship tie break, while captain Sara Titmuss clinched the fourth singles rubber 7-6 7-5 against Inara Gribuste.

Wheatley and Kauders won their doubles 6-0 6-2 against Jia and Gribuste and Wolfe and Titmus rounded off the 12-0 rubbers win by beating Saund and Helen Broadway 6-1 6-4.

Westcliff Lawn signed off with a 10-2 win over Grove (Chelmsford) and Rayleigh, who finished third, defeated Hadleigh Park 10-2