MIAMI: BALTACHA JOINS KEOTHAVONG & WATSON IN MD (24.03.10)

GB #1 Elena Baltacha has done it again! As in Indian Wells, she has collected 30 ranking points for winning through the qualifiers at the WTA Premier Mandatory in Miami with a 6-4 7-6(6) win in Q2 over Chan. She joins Anne Keothavong and Heather Watson in the Main Draw. Annie has utilised her Protected Ranking status again and Heather is a wild card. Katie O'Brien fought bravely but went down in Q2. WAY TO GO, BALLY!

JERSEY: EMILY WEBLEY-SMITH STORMS THROUGH R1 (24.03.10)

The Main Draw of the Jersey womens ITF $25k started today and an early result well worthy of note is Emily Webley-Smith producing a dominant display against world #221 Irina Buryachok of Ukraine. She won 6-2 6-2 in 79 minutes for her best singles result, arguably, since Kolkata 2008. EXCELLENT, EM!

JERSEY: ANNA SMITH v EMILY WEBLEY-SMITH IN R2 THEN! (24.03.10)

Taking a leaf out of Emily Webley-Smith's book from a couple of hours earlier, Anna Smith produced maybe her best ever result (and she's had some good ones already this year!) when she beat 4th seed and world #144 Stephanie Cohen-Aloro of France 7-5 6-4. Mel South is also through to R2 having beaten Jade Curtis in R1 today, making 3 Brits into R2 in all. Sadly all 3 are in the same quarter with Emily against Anna in R2; heigh ho! WELL DONE EMILY, ANNA & MEL!

MIAMI: ELENA BALTACHA MAGNIFICENT AGAIN! (25.03.10)

The scoreline 6-4 6-2, or 6-2 6-4, was the order of the day yesterday for the Brits in the singles R1 of the WTA Premier Mandatory in Miami, Florida, USA. Sadly, that meant losses for Anne Keothavong and Heather Watson; magnificently, it meant a win for GB #1 Elena Baltacha against world #59 Ivena Benesova (CZE) for another 50 ranking points and a R2 encounter with world #14 Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) next up. Bally's 2010 continues its upward trajectory! YAY AGAIN, BALLY!

JERSEY: ANNA SMITH DOMINANT IN QFs (26.03.10)

The compelling run of form by GB's Anna Smith continued unabated today at the Jersey womens ITF $25k. Having downed Emily Webley-Smith in R2, she was up against world #203 Eva Hrdinova (CZE) and dismissed her 6-3 6-1 making Emily's 5 game haul look OK! She's through to the doubles semis too so Anna's week-end could be busy! GO, ANNA!

JERSEY: ANNA SMITH THROUGH TO THE FINAL (27.03.10)

The superb first quarter of 2010 which GB's Anna Smith has posted reached a new high today when she put world #205 Severine Beltrame of France to the sword in the semi-finals of the Jersey womens ITF $25k. Anna went through 6-3 6-3 to meet Johanna Larsson of Sweden, so often her doubles partner, in tomorrow's final. LIFT THE TITLE, ANNA!

JERSEY: ANNA SMITH LIFTS DOUBLES TITLE (28.03.10)

GB's Anna Smith has had to settle for "just" the one title at the Jersey womens ITF $25k. The singles title escaped her grasp when 3rd seed world 128 Johanna Larsson of Sweden, with whom Anna lifted the Barnstaple $50k doubles last Autumn, won their final here 6-2 6-3. Anna will still rise about 50 notches in the next world list. She will rise in the doubles list too after she and Maret Ani (EST) took the dubs here beating fellow Brit Mel South and partner 7-5 6-4 in the final. GREAT WEEK AGAIN, ANNA!

MONZON: 2 WINS SO FAR FOR NAOMI BROADY (29.03.10)

With GB #1 Elena Baltacha having week 13 off whilst Miami works itself through, she may gaze in her proverbial rear view mirror at those behind her in the GB pecking order and some distnace behind her now in the world order. GB #2 Katie O'Brien and #3 Anne Keothavong are DAs for the MD at the $75k ITF in Monzon, Spain this week; GB #4 Naomi Cavaday and #7 Naomi Broady have been taking part in the qualies. Naomi C won Q1 but fell at the second of the three qualifying hurdles; Naomi B is still up and running including having beaten the world #190 in Q1 with world #223 next up now in Q3. KEEP GOING, NAOMI B!

MONZON: NAOMI BROADY CRUISES THROUGH Q3 (30.03.10)

Naomi Broady won impressively, 6-1 6-3 against the world #223, in the final round of qualifying for the $75k ITF in Monzon, Spain overturning a rankings deficit of 61 to join Katie O'Brien and Anne Keothavong in the Main Draw. The draw has them nicely spread over 3 different quarters so here's hoping for all three in the semis! Naomi's R1 is a toughie, though, Kristina Kucova (SVK) ranked 112. GOOD LUCK, NAOMI!

MONZON: NAOMI BROADY SUPERB AGAIN! (31.03.10)

Naomi Broady's superb run of form over the past 4 months and, indeed, here at the ITF $75k in Monzon, Spain continued in R1 when she recovered from losing a tight first set to beat world #112 Kucova 5-7 6-3 6-4 to set up an even tougher R2 against 5th seed world #87 Sandra Zahlavova (CZE). Very decent win, too, for Anne Keothavong 7-5 6-0 against world #149 Sema (JPN) with 2nd seed Tanasugarn (THA) next up. An all Brit semi still possible then! Sadly, Katie O'Brien went down so the all Brit final isn't. Still, 2 out of 3 ain't bad! WELL DONE NAOMI AND ANNIE!

MONZON: ANNE KEOTHAVONG WINS GUTSY IN R2! (01.04.10)

Naomi Broady went down bravely 4-6 5-7 to the world #87 in R2 of the $75k ITF in Monzon, Spain but will have a new Career High ranking on Monday to look forward to thanks to her 4 previous wins! Better still, GB #3 Anne Keothavong has a QF to look forward to here having gutsed out arguably her best result since returning from injury 6-7(3) 7-6(3) 7-5 against the 2nd seed and world #73 Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA). Next up is 8th seed and world #105 Maria-Elena Camerin (ITA). EPIC, ANNIE!

WEEK 13 FIZZLED OUT - WEEK 14 STARTING EARLY! (03.04.10)

Although week 13 will bring British highlights in Monday's WTA rankings lists, if not the ATP lists particularly, British interest came to an end with GB #3 Anne Keothavong going down in the Monzon QFs. Looking forward, there is a fuller range of events, on the womens ITF circuit anyway, with British interest in week 14 (a $50K in Belgium and $25Ks in Korea and USA) and an earlier start than usual. The qualies for the $50k in Torhout, Belgium are under way today with British youngsters Tara Moore, 17, Lisa Whybourn, 18, Jade Curtis, 19, and form horse Anna Smith, 21, aiming to join GB #2 Katie O'Brien and Annie K in the Main Draw. GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY!

RANKINGS: NEW CHs FOR BALTACHA, BROADY, SMITH, BORWELL (05.04.10)

Anne Keothavong is starting to head strongly towards the top 100 again +8 to #116 after the Monzon $75k but already there...and how!... is GB #1 Elena Baltacha who for the second rankings list running is +3 from a previous Career High this time to be world #59 after the Miami Premier Mandatory; just need GB #2 Katie O'Brien to find some form so she can head on up again too! GB doubles #1 Sarah Borwell is also on a new CH this week at world #72; and Naomi Broady and Anna Smith both continued their rapid rises up the rankings. See the Rankings News (Women) thread on the public forum for more. YAY, YOU 4 BRITS!

TORHOUT: O'BRIEN, KEOTHAVONG & SMITH INTO QFs (07.04.10)

Superb set of results today from the $50k womens ITF in Torhout, Belgium with GB #2 Katie O'Brien justifying her top seeding so far with two MD wins on the trot for the first time in 2010 and if she gets to the final the chances of her meeting a fellow Brit remain good with GB #3 Anne Keothavong and GB #8 Anna Smith both winning through to the QFs in the bottom half of the draw. See the Torhout thread on the public forum for more. ALL BRIT FINAL, PLEASE!

JACKSON: HEATHER WATSON GOING STRONG (08.04.10)

17 year old Heather Watson, GB's #1 junior girl and reigning US Open junior champion, has very recently completed a hugely encouraging first year on the senior tour. Just about to break into the top 400, she's this week at a $25k womens ITF in Jackson, Mississipi, USA where she's now reached the singles QFs having won through 3 rounds of qualifying, beaten the 8th seed and world #227 in R1 of the MD and followed that up in R2 today with victory 6-1 7-6(3) over world #230 Klaffner of Austria. Excitingly for the future of British Fed Cup tennis maybe, she has again teamed up with fellow Brit prodigy Laura Robson in the dubs winning 6-1 6-1 in R1. GREAT STUFF, HEATHER!

PONTE VEDRA BEACH: SARAH BORWELL INTO SEMIS (09.04.10)

It'll be another new Career High doubles ranking for GB #1 Sarah Borwell on Monday after she and regular partner Raquel Kops-Jones (USA) reached their first WTA level semi-final together on the green clay at the $220k event at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA on Thursday. Having gutsed out their QF 10-8 in the Match Tie-Breaker, they had a day's rest from the matchcourt yesterday whilst the rest of the draw caught up. They are last up on court today against 2nd seeds Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE) and Shuai Peng (CHN) WELL DONE & GOOD LUCK, SEZ!

CHARLESTON: HEATHER WATSON DOWNS WORLD #172 (10.04.10)

GB #1 junior girl Heather Watson, 17, received a Wild Card into the qualifiers for the $700k WTA Premier tournament in Charleston, South Carolina, USA presumably on the back of being reigning US Open junior champion. Winning such a thing certainly opens doors! Superbly, Heather has taken advantage by blowing away her opponent in Q1, world #172 Dzehalevich (BLR), 6-2 6-1 to collect 8 ranking points and set up a Q2 against world #217 Diyas (KAZ) for a place in the Main Draw. GO, HEATHER!

CHARLESTON: HEATHER WATSON WINS PLACE IN MAIN DRAW (11.04.10)

Great news from the $700k WTA Premier in Charleston, SC, USA where British youngster Heather Watson has completed the job of making the most of her Wild Card into the qualies to earn her place in the Main Draw. She bounced back from dropping the second set 2-6 after taking the first 7-5 to run away with the third 6-1 against world #217 Zarina Diyas (KAZ). Tough ask but great experience awaits in R1: 10th seed and world #33 Elena Vesnina (RUS). WELL DONE HEATHER & GOOD LUCK!

[POSTSCRIPT: Heather gave an excellent account of herself before going down 7-6(4) 6-3; great experience indeed!]

RANKINGS: NEWS CHs AGAIN FOR ANNA SMITH & SARAH BORWELL(12.04.10)

For the second week running there are new Career High rankings in today's WTA lists for GB doubles #1 (+3 to be this week's world #69 thanks to her first ever WTA level semi at Ponte Vedra Beach) and Anna Smith. 8 days ago Anna was GB singles #10; 7 days ago #8; today, (+22 to world #266 thanks to being runner-up at the Jersey $25k the week before last and last week's QF at the Torhout $50k) another jump of two places to be GB #6. WAY TO GO, SARAH & ANNA!

JO'BURG: ELENA BALTACHA ON SONG IN ROUND 1 (13.04.10)

GB #1 and world #59 Elena Baltacha is top seed for the $100k+H ITF in Johannesburg, South Africa this week and if she justifies her billing it'll eclipse her best ever title (the Midland $100k in February). It'll also earn her 150 rankings points and a rise of about 5 places in the world order. If that sounds like tempting providence, Bally's form in her past five tournaments certainly encourages optimism! It's been top 30 stuff as her position in the Sony Ericsson Championships Race (#28) testifies. She hit the ground running in today's R1, seeing off Diatchenko of Russia 6-2 6-2. GO ALL THE WAY, BALLY!