Anna Smith is back!

Great to be able to report that Anna Smith's form nightmare which saw her ranking nosedive in the first half of 2009 seems to be well behind her now!

The upward path began at Felixstowe when she took the 10k title there; and this week has seen her progress to the QFs of this 25k courtesy of some good wins (including beating Laura Robson over 3 sets in R1) and a little bit of help from lady luck (going down in her last round of qualifying but getting in as lucky loser).

Decent chance next up against Shapatava of Georgia who has had a bad trot of form herself stretching back to April until a good win yesterday against the 8th seed. That was a one-off surely?

Go, Anna!

Hope I didn't jinx you Anna

Guttingly close encounter went the wrong way today, Anna going down 2-6 7-6(0) 6-7(5) against a girl ranked 123 notches higher.

Hopefully, consolation will be Anna's in the doubles final where is teamed up with Johanna Larsson of Sweden and take on the Australian pairing of Gold and Kriz. Good luck Anna

POSTSCRIPT: Anna and Johanna lost 7-6(3) 6-2 ; but teamed up again in October to win the Barnstaple 50k