Well Done Emily!!!! Unexpected and a guaranteed British finalist.......

That's great news - Emily really showing signs of being back in the kind of form that once had her as high as 262 in the world.

I see Grandin, who beat Mel in the Final last week, is quietly making her way through the bottom half of the draw again.

Mel:)

Emily:) Thats bloody brilliant. So glad to see her getting good results. Back in the top 500 now

Brilliant result for Em - that makes her win-loss record on this trip 15-2 (including an Australian Money Tournament). I guess that one or two people reading this will not be fully aware of what happened to her earlier in the year down under, so I include an extract from an interview she gave with a Bristol paper in the summer - apologies to those who know all about this.
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"There is a certain irony in Webley-Smith's desire to return to Australia - a place she was exiled in at the start of this year after suffering the most recent dark twist in a horrific catalogue of injury setbacks.

She had just returned from another spell on the sidelines after damaging her right ankle again when slipping on a wet grass court.

Wondering whether she would ever return to the sort of form that saw her qualify for a one and only Grand Slam appearance - at Wimbledon in 2004 - she launched a bid to get her career back on track. "I set about 2008 with high hopes and went off to Australia," she said. "I needed to win some matches and the trip offered six weeks of tournaments.

"I was warming down in the second week when I fell badly in a pothole and ripped my left ankle. Two days before I was due to have surgery I woke up in agonising pain and was rushed to hospital where the doctors discovered I had deep vein thrombosis in my calf."

The doctors refused to operate and Webley-Smith was banned from flying home due to her condition - forcing her to endure a three-month spell stranded in the desert town of Mildura.

"I was frightened and in the worst pain of my life," Webley-Smith explained. "The priority changed from getting back on the tennis court to simply getting well again."

......Spiralling medical bills of over £5,000 have left her almost flat broke. "I desperately need some sponsorship to give me the chance to keep training and competing," she said
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Hope she has found someone to sponsor her - results like this should help.

SF: SOUTH, Melanie (GBR) 1 129 beat WEBLEY-SMITH, Emily (GBR) Q 661 6-1 6-4

F: SOUTH, Melanie (GBR) 1 129 v SEMA, Yurika (JPN) 4 277

This should take Mel to about 122. She has been moving up through a rather steep part of the rankings and dropping points from last year so hasn't gained a lot of places despite getting to three finals. However this should leave her less than 50 points from of a top 100 place, less than 40 points short if she wins the final.

The following gives Melanie's 17 best scores plus her latest two results. Adding 34 points from those two and dropping 7 from Glasgow and 5 from Bronx will leave her on 290(8) points. the 100th ranked player has 336 points.

Melanie South 268 123
2007
October 21st Glasgow 7
November 25th Mount Gambier 7
December 18th Nuriootpa 12
2008
February 10th Midland 25
March 9th Bangalore 10, 16th Kalgoorlie 7, 23rd Sorrento 25
April 6th Patras 9
May 4th Gifu 16, 11th Fukuoka 16
June 15th Birmingham 35
July 5th Wimbledon 2, 27th Los Angeles 35
August 3rd Montreal 15, 17th Bronx 5
September 7th US Open 25
October 12th Traralgon 17, (19th Mount Gambia 17, 26th Port Pirie 17 or 25)

Fantastic news!


Great week for British tennis in the end!