BROTHERS Phil and James Langley put up a brave fight before going out of the men's doubles in the City of York Tennis Championships at St Peter's School last night.

They gave the vastly experienced York pairing of Andy Cooke and Steve Smith a real run for their money in their semi-final clash before going down 6-4 6-1.

In the ladies doubles, Danielle Baker and Margaret Whitehead beat Fulford duo Jill McCreedy and Jill Rouce 6-3 6-3 and will now play top seeds Louise Lister and Wendy Stirke in a repeat of last year's final.

Whitehead and Wendy Shepherd, who have around 60 titles between them, reached the final of the Over 40s ladies doubles after defeating Julia Lister (corr) and Caroline White 7-6 6-3 last night.

They will play the winners of tonight's other semi-final between either Rosie Cantrell/Hilary Spencer or Stirke/Louise Lister.

Also scheduled for tonight at St Peter's are the men's singles semi-finals at 7pm.

The men's over 45 singles will be between Pete Sutherland and Bishopthorpe's Simon Waters.

Sutherland defeated Terry Savage 6-3 6-3 last night, while Waters put out Cawood player Eddie Burton 7-6 7-5.

Last night's results

Men's doubles semi-final: A Cooke and S Smith bt P and J Langley 6-4 6-1.

Ladies doubles semi-final: D Baker and M Whitehead bt J Creedy and J Rounce 6-3 6-3

Over 45s men's singles semi-finals: P Sutherland bt T Savage 6-3 6-3; S Watrers bt E Burton 7-7 7-5

Over 40s ladies doubles semi-final: M Whitehead and W Shepherd bt J Lister and C White 7-6 6-3.

Playing tonight

Men's singles semi-finals; Over 40s ladies doubles semi-final: R Cantrell/H Spencer v W Stirke/L Lister.

Young Pirates take the spoils

Poppleton Pirates were flying the Jolly Roger after beating the Academy Aces of Harrogate in their latest mini-tennis green match.

The Poppleton 'A' side swept to an easy 5-1 victory over the Harrogate 'B' team. Dominic Shread led off with a 1-4 5-3 10-7 defeat of Toby Pratt, Hannah Chambers beat Johnnie Macauley 4-1 5-3 and Rebecca Turnbull saw off Imogen Gosling 4-1 4-1. Only number two Chris Tune missed out on a win, losing to Alex Blogg 1-4 3-6.

But both doubles encounters went Poppleton's way for the resounding success.

The 'B' team, the Pumas, were also in action against Academy opposition in the form of 'A' side the Spidermen, and fought back to earn a draw, despite going down 3-1 in the singles.

Emily Garland won 5-3 4-2 against Jamie Willett, but Tune lost 1-4 1-4 to Blogg, Emma Loten lost 4-1 0-4 3-10 to George Elaby and Fran Keighley lost 1-4 1-4 to Gosling.

But a turn around in the doubles saw Garland and Tune beat Willett and Blogg 4-2 4-2, with Loten and Keighley defeating Elaby and Gosling 4-1 4-0 to give the Pumas a share of the honours in a closely contested match.

Updated: 10:53 Thursday, July 15, 2004