A FATHER and daughter tennis duo are celebrating today after winning a national competition for the second year in a row.

Charles and Lysette Fulcher, who are both part of the Felixstowe Lawn Tennis Club, continued their success on the court as they won the Father and Daughter title at this year’s Family Championships event near Birmingham.

In the final of the 2012 competition, which took place in Dudley, the pair played against Paul and Emily Sutcliffe, from Shrewsbury, and won 6-2, 6-1.

Lysette, who is also the head coach at the Felixstowe tennis club, said: “We were thrilled to win it for the second time in a row.

“We didn’t expect to win it last year so to win it again is great.

“We had not heard of them (Paul and Emily) before so we didn’t know how good they were going to be.

“The games were quite close but we were lucky enough to be on top in most of them.”

Last year the pair overcame the odds to beat a higher-ranked team, Tony and Hannah March from Lancashire, in the finals and they narrowly missed out on a final place in the 2010 competition.

This year they competed against Tony and Hannah in the semi final of the competition, held at the David Lloyd centre in Dudley, and won 6-2, 6-3.

“We were both really pleased,” added Lysette.

“We knew that the semi final would be really tough but we were thrilled to win it for the second time running.”

Charles and Lysette play most of their tennis outdoors but they were quick to settle into the conditions of the indoor court.

The pair had a lot of support from members of the Felixstowe Lawn Tennis Club and they were delighted to be able to bring home a trophy for all of them to see.

Lysette said: “It was great and we can now tell everyone that we were successful.”

They are already planning to take part in next year’s competition and they are hopeful they will come out as winners once again.