RAIN made conditions miserable in the afternoon on the sixth day of the Weston Ladies Open tournament, which is sponsored by local opticians Optika.

RAIN made conditions miserable in the afternoon on the sixth day of the Weston Ladies Open tournament, which is sponsored by local opticians Optika.

However, all but one of the semi-finals were completed, with Gloucester Spa’s Gill Fry, runner-up two years ago, reaching her second singles final with a 21-8 victory over another Gloucester-based bowler Kay Gent (Caerglow).

Her opponent will be Clevedon’s 21-year-old England junior international Stef Branfield, who came through after a tough battle against Ann White (Bristol Arrow), the singles champion of 2004. The rain didn’t do much either for Ann’s new hairdo, paid for by her husband in the morning!

Branfield is also in the final of the new Unified Singles event. She will play Clarence’s Somerset County League A-team captain David Stott.

Weston bowlers Jackie Ware and Meg Favis (St Andrews) remained on course to retain their pairs title with a tense semi-final victory over Kay Gent and her clubmate Pauline Gunn. Their opponents won’t be known until after the second semi-final on Saturday morning, when, because of tournament rules, a substitute will have to replace Stef Branfield as Laura Holden’s partner.

Clevedon Prom’s Margaret Dyer, three times the tournament singles champion, will be going for her first mixed pairs title when she and Wiltshire player Nick Grenfell take on the Bristol Arrow pair Pat Marsh and Tony McGregor. Dyer and Grenfell ended the hopes of the last Wessex Ladies’ player left in the tournament when they beat Audrey Powell and Malcolm Dare.

Rain disrupted the Gala Fours event, which had a record entry of 19 teams. The finals will, as planned, be held on Saturday, last day of the tournament.

Day Six (Friday) results: Mixed pairs semi-finals – A Powell (Wessex Ladies)/M Dare (Torquay) 6, M Dyer (Clevedon Prom)/N Grenfell (Box) 23; P Marsh/A McGregor (Bristol Arrow) 18, I Bird/D Gent (Caerglow) 8.

Pairs semi-finals – K Gent/P Gunn (Caerglow) 20, J Ware/M Favis (St Andrews) 23; P Marsh/J Ind (Bristol Arrow) v L Holder/AN Other (Clevedon) to be played Saturday morning.

Unified Singles semi-finals – D Stott (Clarence) 2, J Eardley (unattached) 0; C Hawkins (Monmouth) 0, S Branfield (Clevedon) 2.

Singles semi-finals – K Gent (Caerglow) 8, G Fry (Gloucester Spa) 21; A White (Bristol Arrow) 17, S Branfield (Clevedon) 21.