Julie Dawson won a fifth singles title and helped a 12-year-old reach the final of the ladies' doubles at the Sussex Closed Championships.

The Sussex captain from Horsham, ranked No.23 in Britain, defeated Carly Homewood (Brighton) 6-7, 6-1, 6-4 to retain her singles crown at Crawley.

She defeated former winner Helen Mitchell (Brighton) 6-2, 6-0 in the semi-final, while Homewood secured a 6-4, 6-0 victory against Caroline Goldring (Horsham).

Dawson teamed up with Amy Harris, born in 1988 and from Lower Beeding, and they were finally defeated 6-2, 6-1 in the ladies' doubles by Mitchell and Nicola Tuson.

Tournament organiser Jim Anderson said: "Julie coaches Amy and wanted to help her development by involving her in the county senior event.

"There was another 12-year-old in the singles draw that she played, Joasia Zajac from Falmer, who was just so thrilled to be the other side of the net from Julie.

"She's certainly helped the young ones at the event."

Dawson completed a hat-trick of finals with Jordan Freitas, the St Bede's schoolboy from Eastbourne, in the mixed doubles.

Their scheduled opponents, Brighton pair Zoe Froud and Will Edmonds, scratched because Froud was taken ill.

Freitas, 17, retained his singles title with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Tom Manton, a 16-year-old from Hove.

He overcame David Smith (Horsham) 6-1, 6-1 in the semi-finals, while Manton beat the more experienced No.2 seed James Cuthell (East Preston) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Anderson said: "There were a lot of young players who did well. Experienced chaps like Sussex captain Richard Walmsley, who is around 40, had early exits, while the juniors marched on to the later stages, most notably Tom who I thought could be a dark horse having watched him play early on. It was most encouraging. Jordan certainly showed he was no one hit wonder."

Cross In Hand Club member Freitas agreed.

He said: "We did do well. I found it quite comfortable but it was a good event which I enjoyed."

Freitas, who aims to go full-time next year, added that he hopes to join a training squad in Spain.

He said: "I am going full-time later this year and want to go to Spain because the training and coaching is understood to be better than here, but I haven't got a sponsor."

All the winners were presented with their trophies by Sussex president Nick Greenwood and Ian Legg, branch manager of the sponsors HSBC Bank plc.

The event was switched back to its normal date after being held in September last year.

Anderson said: "We moved it last year because Easter was so close to the original date and that affected the entries. This year there wasn't a clash, we had a decent entry and the sun shone."