Ellenborough Table Tennis Club’s Denise Payet has become a double champion at the National Cadet Championships.

The 13-year-old Enfield player justified her top seeding by winning the singles title and then teamed up with Kate Cheer to take the doubles.

But she had to dig deep to see off the third seed Sophie Barlow as the singles final went to five sets.

Barlow started quickly, opening up a 5-2 lead on her way to taking the first 11-5, but Payet turned up the power as she pulled out the next two 11-3, 11-7.

The fourth was tight and, from 9-9, Barlow brought up three successive game points. Payet saved two but could not stop Barlow taking the third to take the set 13-11.

Payet was not to be denied and took the last 11-6 to repeat the outcome from when the two met in last season’s Under-13 National final.

The Enfield County pupil said: “This is really good for me because I’ve been working really hard in the past year and my coaches have been putting a lot of time and effort in. Winning this shows that I’ve got better.”

The doubles was much more straightforward as Payet and Cheer won without dropping a set in the entire tournament. In the final, they beat sisters Alice and Megan Dillon 11-7, 13-11, 11-6.

“We’re really good friends and it really helps that we play together internationally and at training camps – it helps us to improve,” said Payet. “And we enjoy it and have fun while we’re doing it.”