A whopping number of entrants at the 84th Felixstowe Junior tennis tournament ensured the first day of the main draw got off to a successful and busy start.

Over 300 players are registered to take part in the event at Felixstowe Lawn Tennis Club which runs until Saturday.

Monday to Wednesday sees the 10&U, 14&U and 18&U age groups of both genders take to the courts with Thursday to Saturday seeing the 12&U, 16&U and Open competitors in action.

Special arrangements have also been made for players in the 16&U competition to start on the Wednesday to allow some players to pick up GCSE results the following day.

The Monday’s play used almost all available courts meaning players had to prepare themselves to feature on grass, hard or astro surfaces.

Felixstowe’s tournament comes at the end of three consecutive weeks of junior tennis in Suffolk and North Essex following on from Frinton’s competition last week and Framlingham’s the week before that.

And although most of this week’s competitors are from East Anglia some players have travelled from as far afield as Hampshire, Yorkshire and the west of Scotland.

Among those featuring yesterday were Henry and Arthur Patten in the 18&U boy’s doubles.

The brothers won the same event at Frinton last week and will be hoping to repeat their success in Suffolk.

The first match of their campaign was a relatively easy success as the second seeds overcame the pairing of Matthew Balaam and James Clayton 6-2 6-0.

They will play third seeds Samuel Fowler and Jonathan Stammers today in the next round.

The tournament also gives younger players the opportunity to impress, with the first half of the week also comprising a 10&U tournament for both genders in singles and doubles, while an 8&U event helps to round off the weeks’ play on Saturday.