WILTSHIRE women have found life tough so far during the first 10 days of the ladies national championships at Royal Leamington Spa.

To date three quarter-final places is the best that they have achieved.

Teenager Katy Smith (Royal Wootton Bassett) reached the last eight in ladies singles, while Alex Jacobs reached the quarters in both the ladies champion of champions and senior singles competitions.

Wiltshire singles champion Smith, 19, enjoyed a superb first day as she recorded three excellent victories.

She beat Jane Preston (Bush Hill Park, Middx) convincingly 21-6 and followed it with a 21-11 success over Linda Rose (Whitehaven, Cumbria) before defeating England international Stefanie Branfield (Clevedon, Somerset) 21-14.

However, Smith’s run came to an end in the quarter-finals when she lost 21-15 Donna Knight (Oxford City & County).

Box’s Jacobs, who has won the national senior (O55s) singles crown at Leamington for the previous two years, was unable to make it a hat-trick of titles.

After defeat Janet Ballard (Hants) 21-15 and Lancashire’s Christine Hardman 21-10, Jacobs lost out to Val Osmond (Ardagh, Horfield, Bristol Glos) 21-16 in the quarter-finals.

Jacobs also went out in the ladies champion of champions competition in the last eight losing narrowly 21-20 to Caroline Campion (Banbury Central).

The ladies championships draw to a close this weekend, while the men’s championships commence in earnest together with the remaining mixed competitions.

Currently in the ladies championships Devizes trio Rose Merritt, Patricia Reeves and Sue Ochyra are through to round three in the triples, but Box skipped by Michele Williams made a swift exit.

Jacobs (Box) was due to take to the green on Wednesday in the two wood singles, while on Thursday, Devizes duo Merritt and Ochyra were back contesting the ladies pairs championship along with Supermarine.

Wiltshire’s final interest in the ladies championships lies with the Smith sisters Lucy and Katy in the Junior (U25) pair championships over the weekend.

Wiltshire did have some success in the two Sutton Winson mixed Under 18 events.

In the 128 strong field for the singles, 14-year-old Jamie Shadwell played very well to reach the quarter-finals before losing 3-1 to beaten finalist Nicole Rogers (Hampshire), who made her U25 debut for England this season.

Spencer Moulton’s youngster Shadwell won the five ends first set 5-1 but then lost three in a row to Rogers 6-1, 4-2 and 5-1.

Despite her first round exit in the singles, Georgina Newman (Avon) shone in the Sutton Winson Plate - a pairs competition played with two woods each over two seven ends sets - players are drawn randomly out of the hat together.

Newman was drawn with Rebecca Moorbey (St Noets, Cambs) and they reached the final.

They defeated Emily Jacobs (Trowbridge Westbourne) and her partner Jack Lockhart (Lancs) in the semi-finals 2-0 (9-2, 8-3).

However, they missed out on a Plate success in a tense final 2-1.

Newman and partner Moorbey won the first seven end set 6-5 but lost the second to Caid Murphy-Lea and Thomas Towle (both Notts) 8-3, before losing out to in a one-end shoot-out.

MEN’S and mixed national championships commence at Royal Leamington Spa this weekend.

First-up for Wiltshire are Holt’s Rodney Summers and Kevin Oliver in the senior (O55s) pairs and bidding to follow in the footsteps of Wiltshire county colleagues Dave Snell and Mel Biggs who won the title in 2013 at Worthing but last year at Leamington.

In the last 32 first round match, Summers and Oliver meet Chico Butler and his partner from Barton Le Clay BC (mid-Bedfordshire).

Second-up are Kyle Anderson (Bassett) and Tom Warner (Amesbury) in the junior (U25) singles.

Monday sees the fours championship featuring Royal Wootton Bassett’s team of Kyle Anderson, Tom Walkley, Dave Godwin and skip Steve Snell, commence.

While Spencer Moulton’s Andy Colebrooke, Russell Francis and Graham Shadwell, the 2014 national triples champions, begin their quest on Thursday to regain the triples crown.

ROYAL Wootton Bassett’s men’s team have qualified for the last eight of the Top Club to be played at Leamington from September 17.

In the Dorset and Wilts section they beat Westlecot A 4-1 and Chippenham Town 5-0.

Three extremely tight games then followed as they beat Westlecot B 3-2, Holt 3-2, to become Wiltshire champions, and clinched the Dorset and Wilts sectional title with a 3-2 success over Greenhill (Weymouth).

And last week thumped Hampshire and Isle of Wight champions Boscombe Cliff 5-0 in the inter-area final to clinch their place in the quarter-finals at Leamington in mid September.