Slazenger Harrogate and District League : Two sides who won promotion to the top flight last season are making a swift return to Division Two.

Bedale, who won the Second Division title last term, had the final nail hammered in their relegation coffin. They lost their final match of the season against newly-crowned champions Boroughbridge by eight rubbers to one.

Boroughbridge were still full of beans after taking the title with Bedale swept aside on a crest-of-a-wave performance by the new championship winners.

Boroughbridge ended their season four points ahead of their nearest rivals The Academy and Thirsk.

Match scores - Boroughbridge 8 Bedale 1 (Boroughbridge names first): Graeme Campbell and Gayle Partridge beat Mark Scarlett and Alison Johnson 6-2 6-4; beat Chris James and Helen Broadwith 6-0; beat N Walker and Sally-Anne Murray 6-0.

John Rowe and Kathy Farrand beat Scarlett and Johnson 6-3; beat James and Broadwith 6-2 6-2; beat Walker and Murray 6-1.

Enric Bertran and Suzanne Lodge lost to Scarlett and Johnson 4-6; beat James and Broadwith 6-2; beat Walker and Murray 6-0 6-4.

Joining Bedale in the Second Division next year are Harrogate Racquets A. The Racquets side could have stayed up had they not suffered two penalty points for failing to fulfil a fixture - and won the match

But reports from the Racquets camp indicate they did not feel their side strong enough to maintain First Division status.

As it was Harrogate Spa, who also suffered a two-point penalty for not playing a match, escaped the drop after a bright start to the season which evaporated as the temperatures soared.

Meanwhile Harlow A, who were demoted from Division One last season, are on their way back to the top flight, finishing runners-up to The Academy A team, the latter having won Division Three only last season.

The present season has not been a memorable one for former champions Harlow, one of the league's leading clubs.

They finished mid-table in Division One and apart from the A team's return to Division One three of their teams suffered relegation.

Harlow B went down from Division Two; Harlow C dropped from Division Three and Harlow D are relegated to Division Five.

Raskelf produced a Houdini-style escape act from relegation in Division Two by winning their final clash of the season 7-2 at Harrogate Racquets B, who finished the season 11 points behind Harlow B.

Division One: Boroughbridge 8 Bedale 1.

Division Two: Harrogate Racquets B 2 Raskelf 7.

Division Four: Harrogate Racquets C 1 Wetherby A 8; Boroughbridge A 6.5 Dacre A 2.5.

Division Five: Birstwith 5 Masham A 4; Wetherby B 1.5 Ripon B 7.5.

Division Six: Dacre B 5.5 Ripon C 3.5; Starbeck A 8 Knaresborough B 1.

ITF Men's 15,000 Dollars Futures Tournaments

Daniel Kiernan, the Durham and Cleveland number one, placed eighth in the British order of merit, reached the last eight as an unseeded competitor in last week's Cumberland Club London tournament.

He started with a 6-2 6-3 first round win over higher ranked Rameez Junaid of Australia and then knocked out fellow Briton Jim May (Kent) 7-6 6-3 but was stopped in the quarter-finals by the third seed, Germany's Michael Berrer who beat him 6-4 6-4.

Yorkshire's Johnny Marray, Andrew Banks and David Sherwood were all either beaten in one round or two.

Kiernan and Sherwood, however, took the doubles title. As a partnership recently resumed after several years absence, they received a walk-over from Marray and Jamie Delgado in the final, but had disposed of the second seeds Oliver Freelove and Mark Neilsen in the semi-finals in three sets.

They had reached the semi-finals the week before in Wrexham, but were then beaten by Marray and Mark Hilton, the eventual champions. Pairs from France and Britain were their victims in the first two round.

The Derwentsider was knocked out in round one of the singles though by Olivier Wandewiele (France). Sherwood made round two but lost to Marc Bauer (France). Marray, Delgado, Chris Lewis and Ross Hutchins all reached the last eight.

Results

Cumberland Club

Men's singles: final - M Pedrini (Ita) bt M Neilsen (NZ) 6-2 6-0; semi-finals - Pedrini bt M Berrer (Ger) 78-6 7-6, Neilsen bt G Menga (Ita) 3-6 6-3 7-5; quarter-finals - Pedrini bt R Hutchins (Sur) 7-6 6-3, Berrer bt Daniel Kiernan (D and C) 6-4 6-4, Menga bt C Lewis (Wal) 6-3 4-6 2-1 retd, Neisen bt B Dupuy (Fra) 6-1 6-2; round two - Berrer bt J Marray (Yor) 6-4 604, Kiernan bt J May (Kent) 7-6 6-3.

Men's doubles: final - D Kiernan and D Sherwood wo J Delgado (Ber) and J Marray; semi-finals - Delgado and Marray wo J Auckland (Nor) and R Bloomfield (Nor); Kiernan and Sherwood bt O Freelove (Kent) and M Neilsen (NZ) 5-7 6-4 6-4; quarter-finals - Kiernan and Sherwood wo R Crabtree and L Magincev.

Wrexham

Men's singles: final - C Lewis (Wal) bt L Magdincev (MCD) 3-6 7-6 6-3; semi-finals - Magdincev bt M Bauer (Fra) 1-6 6-3 7-5, Lewis bt B Cassaigne (Fra) 7-6 2-6 7-6; quarter-finals - Lewis bt J Marray (Yor) 6-4 6-2.

Men's doubles: finals - J Marray and M Hilton (Che) bt R Crabtee and S Dickson (Che) 6-1 6-0; semi-finals - Marray and Hilton bt D Kiernan and D Sherood 7-6 6-7 6-0, Crabtree and Dickson bt S Schulz (Ger) and B Shahamat (Ger) 2-6 6-4 6-0; quarter-finals - Kiernan and Sherwood bt M Bauer and G Lugassy (Fra) 6-1 6-4.

ITF Women's 10,000 Dollars Tournaments

Sarah Borwell (Nunthorpe) recently returned to the tournament circuit following glandular fever, but still very much short of matchplay, was a first round casualty in singles both the tournaments at the Cumberland Club and Wrexham.

In the former last week the Teessider seeded three went out to Maria Caiazzo (Fra) 6-3 2-6 6-4. The previous week the Durham and Cleveland number one was defeated by Ireland's Karen Nugent 5-7 7-6 6-0. But Miss Borwell with Surrey's Hannah Collin did manage one win in each of the tournaments over a Swedish/German pair at Wrexham and against a Russian couple in London.

Results - Cumberland

Women's singles: final - I Senoglu (Tur) bt H Collin (Sur) 6-4 6-4; semi-finals - Senoglu bt M Caiazzo (Fra) 6-3 6-2; Collin bt L Baker (NZ) 6-0 6-3.

Women's doubles: finals - C Curran (Ire) and E O'Riain (Ire) bt I Boulykina (Rus) and A Kulikove (Rus) 6-2 7-6.

Wrexham

Women's singles: final _ T Bacsinzky (Swi) bt K Paterson (Sc0) 6-0 6-3; semi-finals - Bacsinszky bt I Boulykina 6-1 6-4, Paterson bt K Krishnamurthy (Can) 6-4 6-4.

Women's doubles: final - Y Doyle (Ire) and K Nugent (Ire) bt P Ozgen (Tur) and I Senoglu 6-3 6-3.