Victorious British trio into main draw at Shrewsbury
Ranah Akua Stoiber impressed as she booked a place in the main draw of the Lexus W100 Shrewsbury – with two more British players, Emily Appleton and Sarah Beth Grey, also winning their second qualifying round matches.
Stoiber, 19, who reached the semi-finals of the girls’ singles at the Junior Australian Open last year, beat Austrian player Tamira Paszek 6-1, 6-2 on the indoor courts at The Shrewsbury Club yesterday.
Paszek, 33, twice reached the Wimbledon singles quarter-finals earlier in her career, but Stoiber delivered a fine display to get the better of her higher ranked opponent and advance to the main draw which starts today.
Stoiber, from London, said: “It was a really good atmosphere out there – I really enjoyed playing in front of the crowd.
“I feel like I played a very good game. I was pretty focused and I really enjoyed myself.”
Reflecting on beating a player who has been ranked as high as 26 in the world, Stoiber added: “I think it was a really good win for me to play against someone very experienced like that, so, yes, I’m glad I got the job done.”
Stoiber, currently ranked just outside the world’s top 600, is now looking forward to taking her place in the main draw.
“This is my first time playing in the main draw here, so I’m very excited for it,” she said.
Appleton, the British number 10, was a 7-6, 6-4 winner over Italian Deborah Chiesa, while Grey beat fellow Brit Ava Williamson 6-3, 6-3.
Of the other British players involved in the second qualifying round, Alice Gillan lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 against Croatian Iva Primorac, Emma Wilson was edged out 6-3, 6-7, 7-5 by Czech player Aneta Laboutkova, while 16-year-old Hephzibah Oluwadare lost 6-0, 6-1 against Croatian Petra Marcinko, the top seed in qualifying, who was ranked 132 in the world last October. The day’s other second qualifying round winners were German Nastasja Schunk and Estonian Elena Malygina.
Qualifiers Appleton, Grey and Stoiber join eight more British players in the main draw.
Sonay Kartal, who is the current British number four, Heather Watson, Amarni Banks and Jodie Burrage are all playing in Shropshire this week, along with the quartet of Hannah Klugman, Ella McDonald, Amelia Rajecki and Mingge Xu, who have received main draw wild cards.
Today’s first round action, with both singles and doubles matches scheduled, starts at 10am, with admission for spectators to watch the matches from court-side stands £17.50.
