The grass court season starts today!

Plenty of Brit Girls hoping to work their way through qualifying, including Naomi Cavaday 5th qseed, Jade Curtis 6th qseed, Sarah Borwell 7th qseed and Tara Moore 8th qseed.

Good luck everybody!

Naomi, Jade and Tara all won Q1 & Q2
Sarah won Q1 but not Q2

Naomi nearest in ranking to her opponent although all 3 are underdogs in Q3 so good luck you 3!

3 fantastic results today, Girls!

Naomi looked the best chance to overturn the rankings and she did it in style beating 4th qseed Steffi Boffa, ranked 314, 6-0 6-4

Tara looked the next best chance; she did it in style also beating 3rd qseed Eleni Danilidou, ranked 285, 6-1 7-5

Jade looked least likely; but she did it in style beating 2nd qseed Natalie Grandin, ranked 235, 6-4 4-6 6-0

Emily still recovering so will be missing this week

Get better soon, Em

11 Brit Girls in the Main Draw this week!!

That's 4 by Direct Acceptance
3 by winning through qualifying
4 by Wild Card

Working down the draw from the top, Jade Curtis is scheduled to meet top seed Wickmayer in R2 if they both win R1; small matter of the world 163 for Jade in R1

2 slots further down the draw is Joss Rae (WC) up against world 136 in R1

Next Brit Girl at slot 11 in the draw Georgie Stoop who will fancy her chances against Shennay Perry, top 40 3 years ago but now world 160

Slots 13 & 14 ensure one Brit Girl will be in R2 but one will be going home; yep it's Brit v Brit (although with 11 in a field of 32 this is the only one so that's better than usual!); Mel South against Amanda Elliott (WC); one way or another

Slot 15 is Tara Moore against 8th seed Julie Ditty world 120

Slot 18 is Anna Smith (WC) against 6th seed Alexa Glatch world 116

Slot 23 is Naomi Broady with a tough old draw against 3rd seed and world 99 Maria-Elena Camerin of Italy

Those last 3 are probably all

The bottom quarter of the draw arguably has the biggest Brit strength in depth with 5th seed Katie O'Brien, in slot 25, up against the surprise qualifier Svenja Weidemann of Germany, ranked 599 but who took out the top qseed in Q3; Katie will play Naomi Cavaday in R2 if they both win R1; Naomi has Angela Haynes world 146 in R1; and completing the Brit Girl roll call is Elena Baltacha at slot 30 who has Yulia Fedossova world 201 in R1; those three are probably

It'll be a good R1 if 5 Brits get through. Good luck everybody!

Fantastic stuff again yesterday, Girls!

Brilliant wins for Jade and Joss, superb efforts from Anna and Tara, and Mel v Mandy had to have one winner and one loser. So that one and 5 !

Jade beat her 163 ranked opponent 0-6 6-3 6-4; great comeback there Jade

Joss had the Brit result of the day beating her 136 ranked opponent 7-5 6-3

Tara and Anna both took their seeded opponents right to the wire with Tara going down 7-6(9) 6-4 and Anna 7-6(8) 7-5; then but also

Mel v Mandy went according to the form book 6-0 6-3 &

Another great day!

3 more Brits through to make a total of 6 in R2
And 2 more brave close calls too; it's no exaggeration to say 10 Brit Girls have played above and beyond in R1

Katie O'Brien by 6-4 7-6(1) and Elena Baltacha by 7-6(4) 6-4 both underlined their ranking superiority whilst Naomi Cavaday overturned quite a ranking deficit to beat Angela Haynes ranked 146 in a 7-6 6-7 6-4 marathon

Naomi Broady ran the 3rd seed, ranked 99, close 7-6 7-5 so more than and likewise Georgie Stoop who lost to the ex world #41 Shennay Perry in 3 sets

Some tough matches ahead in R2. Good luck everybody

Shame Katie and Naomi have to meet

Another great day!

Mel on fire putting 8th seed Julie Ditty to the sword 6-1 6-0
4th seed and world 104 next up. Go, Mel!

Bally had her fans chewing their fingernails but came through her R2 against Scheepers of the RSA 7-6(6) 4-6 6-3

It's Brit v Brit in that QF with Naomi Cavaday continuing her great run by taking out Katie 6-2 6-3

An all Brit final still a possibility

An all Brit QF in the top quarter was a huge ask but the girls showed pluck before both going down Jade was up against the top seed Wickmayer (world 63) and went down 3&2 ; Joss went agonisingly close against Michaela Krajicek world 128 and ex world #30 before being edged out 6-4 7-6(4)

Go, Bally!

Elena Baltacha carries Brit hopes into today's SFs against 3rd seed Camerin of Italy. She came from a set down to beat Naomi C in the all Brit QF yesterday.

Naomi's had a great week ; all being well she'll get a Wild Card into next week's WTA level event in Birmingham

Mel was looking good for the SFs too after taking the first set 7-5 against 4th seed Voegele of Swizerland but it wasn't to be

Bally lost to Camerin in her SF

It's been a great week for a lot of the Brit Girls, though, and a good start to the grass court season.

Except for Em who'll be cursing her luck