Katie and Em both here too!

After the excitement of both reaching the QFs in Gifu last week, and Em earning a Special Exemption into this week' Main Draw by getting to the final , here we go again!

Albeit it's sand filled outdoor carpet this time...

Katie, in the top half of the draw, is 8th seed and has started with a R1 win over Ye-Ra Lee (KOR), ranked 269, 6-3 6-4 ; next up Erika Takao (JPN) ranked 320 with a likely QF for the winner against 3rd seed Yung-Jan Chan (TPE) ranked 138.

Em, in the other half of the draw, recovered from a slow start, slipping about on the sand, to cruise the second and third sets for a 4-6 6-2 6-0 win over 259 ranked Wen-Hsin Hsu (TPE) in R1 ; which very likely gives Em a new Career High on Monday, surpassing her previous mark achieved way back in 2005. If so, that'll be worthy of a or three!

Next up for Em is an unranked 16 year old wild card (unknown quantities often being the trickiest! ) Miyu Kato (JPN) who comfortably put out the 4th seed in R1. GL Em

Both Katie and Em, with their respective Australian partners, have won their dubs R1s through to the QFs already

Emily wins again!

The Emily bandwagon rolled on again today when she dealt with the potent threat of her junior Davis Cup player opponent, with admirable calm having had the disappointment of not converting a matchpoint in the second set tiebreaker, 6-2 6-7(6) 6-2

That nails down a new Career High ranking for Em on Monday

One more win would see her inside the world top 250; next up is 6th seed Kumiko Iijima (JPN) ranked 203 whom Emily beat comfortably on hard courts in Sydney in early March. Good luck, Em

Sadly, Katie was squeezed out of her R2 here 6-7(1) 5-7

A 3-setter too far!

Great fight as ever from our Emily but the accumulation of 3 setters over the past fortnight, 5-0 in Em's favour until this one, finally took their toll as the QF went against her 2-6 7-6(4) 2-6...

With Emily and Katie both going down in the dubs too, to seeded opponents, that's that until next week at the $50k in Kurume.

When Em may well be sporting brand new CHs for both singles and doubles. Roll on Monday for those new WTA lists

YAY, EMILY!

And so it is: our Emily is today sporting two shiny new Career High world rankings: #253 in singles; and #239 in doubles

It's been a long old battle for Em to surpass the 262 she chalked up in June 2005 but she's kept fighting, as is her way, with maybe yet more good news just around the corner in time for Wimbledon. Here's hoping!

Starting at the $50k in Kurume tomorrow perhaps...

Em is now GB #6 in both singles and doubles; plus, she has further cemented her hold on the GB #4 slot in the Singles Race