East Finchley’s Esah Hayat took his tally of Deaf National Tennis Championship titles to eight in all senior competitions over the weekend at the National Tennis Centre, as he claimed his third men’s singles and fourth men’s doubles crowns.

Only Peter Willcox has interrupted 18-year-old Hayat’s men’s singles reign since 2016 after the 13-time national champion took their 2018 title decider. But, having beaten Croydon’s Jack Clifton 6-1, 6-0 in his semi-final, Hayat came from 2-1 down in the second set of this year’s final to complete a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Wilcox after winning five of the last six games.

The tournament was arranged by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the national governing body for tennis in Great Britain, as part of the resumption of its calendar of disability competitions.

Hayat added his third successive men’s doubles National title alongside Fletcher. World silver medallists in team and individual championships in the last two seasons, Fletcher and Hayat won all three of their round-robin matches across the weekend at the NTC, defeating the previously unbeaten pairing of Clifton and Willcox 6-2, 6-3 in Sunday’s decisive contest.

Hayat, who also won the men’s doubles National title in 2016 partnering Willcox, said: “I’m very happy to have won the singles and doubles titles again this year. It's been a lot of fun competing in deaf tennis for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic and I want to thank the LTA and all the organisers involved for putting the event together, despite the current restrictions.

“I played my first hearing tournament since lockdown the weekend before the National Championships, winning a men’s doubles Grade 4 event in Ealing, so I knew I was in good form and it was great to be competing again.”