SOUTHEND player Rob Carter won a prestigious tennis tournament at the weekend.

Carter defeated Marshall Tutu in straight sets to claim the Eddie Kirtland/Bryan Watts Essex Invitational Singles Championship at Redbridge Sports Centre.

The Southend player won the final 6-2 6-2 against his men’s county team-mate in the competition which is part of the warm-up events to the winter inter-county championship tournament at the end of November.

Essex will be competing in group one in Bath against the cream of the country’s top talent.

Carter defeated Mark Klein, Matthew Doe and David Wright on his way to the final, while Thorpe Bay’s Harry Randle reached the semi-final.

Randle beat Alexander Groves and William Butler before going down 6-2 6-1 to Tutu in the last four.

Southend’s Thomas Pudney went out in the first round and then lost 7-2 2-6 [10-3] to Groves in the consolation event.

The Essex Invitation Singles Championship features county-level players and up and coming youngsters who will be part of the Essex team in future years.