This has been the year of breakthroughs as far as the British girls are concerned. The player who started it all off was Elena Baltacha. She got into the mood by winning the 25K in Jersey in week 13, then restarted the record books by winning the $75K in Tourhout the following week, the highest win by a British girl for about 20 years.
From then on everyone seemed to think they should also collect a title of at least $50K or preferably higher before the year was out. Even a certain 14 year old came surprisingly close to winning a $75K at her first attempt. By the end of the year five players had collected titles at $75K or better, Anna Smith the $75K doubles in Shrewsbury, Elena Baltacha the $75K in Tourhout, Mel South the $75K+H in Toyota, Sarah Borwell the $100K doubles in Odense and best of all Anne Keothavong the $100K+H in Krakow.
Top Players in 2008
Anne Keothavong has concentrated mainly on singles winning 4 titles. Having achieved her first aim of breaking into the top 100 she set herself a new target of reaching the top 70 and having passed that landmark she now has her sights on breaking into the top 50 next year and winning a WTA title.
Sarah Borwell first played the circuit in 1996 but didnt play again until 5 years later. From July this year she decided to concentrate on doubles with her partner Coutney Nagle, rapidly moving to British number 1 doubles player and reaching a doubles ranking of 108 by the year end. She looks to have an excellent chance of breaking into the top 100 early next year.
Mel South is our leading all rounder having picked up two doubles and three singles titles this year. She is now very well placed to join Anne in the top 100 early next year and might just make it into the main draw of the Australian Open. She might even become our first player for some time to be a top 100 player at both singles and doubles.
Elena Baltacha would almost certainly have been a top 100 player for several years had it not been for the health problems that have limit the number of tournaments that she plays each year. She was the first to make the breakthrough at $75K and finished the year with two titles.
Anna Smith is still only 20 and is proving a very good doubles player, now our number 4 doubles player after Sarah, Mel and Anne. She has climbed steadily up the rankings reaching a career high of 357 in the singles and 179 in the doubles. She has collected three doubles and one singles title, her best result being the $75K doubles title in the Shrewsbury tournament.
