Rising British tennis stars are heading to Shropshire this weekend to play in the ITF World Tennis Tour tournament at The Shrewsbury Club.

A strong field of players from around the world will be competing in the prestigious Budgen W100 tournament, which takes place between October 15-22.  

The highest ranked British players to have entered the event - the biggest women’s tournament, outside of the grass court season, in the UK this year - are Harriet Dart, Lily Miyazaki and Katie Swan, all currently in the British top 10.

A number of the country’s most exciting up and coming players, including Isabelle Lacy, Ranah Stoiber and Hannah Klugman will also be playing on the Sundorne Road venue’s indoor courts.

That’s welcomed by Iain Bates, the LTA’s head of women’s tennis: “There have been a number of encouraging performances from British juniors this year,” he said. "Making the transition from top international junior events to the pro tour is one of the hardest challenges in tennis, so the opportunity to play in big tournaments at home is a huge advantage that our younger players will be looking to capitalise on.”

Lacy, 17, currently ranked just outside the world’s top 600, reached the second round of qualifying in the Shrewsbury W100 last year, losing to experienced Belgian player Yanina Wickmayer, once ranked as high as 12 in the world.

Lacy beat a top 100 player for the first time this summer when she got the better of the USA’s Madison Brengle, the former world number 35, in the first round of the W100 Surbiton tournament.

She quickly followed it up by beating Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic - who is set to be the top seed in Shrewsbury - at the W100 Ilkley tournament.

Lacy teamed up with Klugman to reach the girls’ doubles semi-finals at this year’s Junior Wimbledon.

Klugman, 14, has also enjoyed an excellent year and progressed to the quarter-finals of the US Open Junior Championship girls’ singles last month.

Stoiber, 18, enjoyed a similar run at Flushing Meadows last year and earlier this year impressively made the last eight of the girls’ singles at Junior Wimbledon and the semi-finals of the Australian Open Junior Championships.

Dave Courteen, The Shrewsbury Club’s managing director, said: “Jack Draper played here as an up and coming British player in a lower ranked $25,000 event we held in 2019. 

"He was aged 17 at the time and it was exciting to see him playing here in Shrewsbury. You could clearly see the quality he had. He’s since gone on to feature in the world’s top 50.

“With the potential of the likes of Hannah Klugman, Isabelle Lacy and Ranah Stoiber, they all have the ability to go on and enjoy really successful careers and to achieve big things.

“This is a great opportunity for local tennis fans to watch some of the best young British players competing in a very strong field.”

Ticket prices for the W100 Shrewsbury event, which include a 40-page tournament programme, start from £7.50, with finals day tickets to enjoy both the singles and doubles finals on Sunday, October 22 priced £19.50.

A tournament pass to watch all matches throughout the week from court-side stands is available for £59.

Tickets can be purchased via the tournament website at https://worldtennistourshrewsbury.com/tickets-and-events/#tickets