Guy Barker and Alister Robinson retained their Open Doubles Championship at Queens Club on Sunday, defeating the Smith-Bingham brothers,Alex and Guy, who were seeded third.

Their victory in straight games 15/7,15/7,18/17,15/4 meant that they did not drop a game throughout the competition reinforcing their position as the preeminent doubles pair this side of the Atlantic.

They had reached the final by defeating Neal Bailey and Harry Foster in the semi finals 15/11 15/2 15/3 15/11. The Smith-Bingham Brothers had had much tougher matches on their way to the final.

The first game of the final, foreshadowed the pattern of the whole match. Barker and Robinson much more disciplined in their approach, took advantage of numerous instances of overhitting from their opponents to kill the ball, Robinson in particular being severe on anything loose. The brothers were also liable to volley too much.

The second game followed much the same outline with Robinson killing anything errant and Barker rarely missing a shot on the left hand side. The holders were also winning many more points on serve with Robinson serving 20 aces in total, Guy Smith-Bingham 8, the other two players serving 7 each.

Only in the third game did the Smith-Binghams trouble the Champions. They took a 12/6 lead after some excellent play including three searing backhand winners from Guy. This passage of play was the most exciting of the match with all four players going forward and producing some tremendous rallies. Barker and Robinson pulled themselves back into the match in two hands thanks to four service aces and reached 13/12 before being put out. Alex and Guy reached 13 all, set 5 was called by Robinson and he and Barker got back in the box for the loss of no points. They, in turn, were put out pointless and the brothers reached 4/0 game ball only to fail to take the necessary point. Robinson was now not to be denied and, at his most hectic, served and then dominated the ensuing rally to take the game 18/17.