Oh dear, I couldn't let this one go and found myself coming back to it. I've now got all WTA QFs (with dates) since 1981 for all but two of the players who have been year-end GB no. 1s since then (Wade, Barker, Durie, Croft, Hobbs, Gomer, Javer, Wood, etc) and checked those draws for other GB QF-ists, after which I also checked Sarah Loosemore (found as a QF-ist when I checked Monique Javer's Pattaya 1991 draw, she also turned out to have made the Singapore 1990 QFs) and Amanda Brown (she made the - non-AO! - Melbourne QFs the same year as Annabel Croft, i.e. 1985, and two QFs in the US in 1984) and now I'm going to check Jo Durie and Virginia Wade's QF dates against that list - I've left them until last to avoid having to note down every single one of their QFs!

Virginia's last QF was Wimbledon 1983, so unless Jo made the QFs of a tournament in one of the rare weeks after that when two other Brits made QFs elsewhere or there was a week I've missed when Brits made QFs at 3 different events *and* one of them wasn't one of the players I've listed, then it must be before 1983.

The last time can't have been earlier than 1978 though because Anne Hobbs, Virginia Wade and Michelle Tyler all made the QFs at Eastbourne that year (that may well be the last time we had 3 WTA QF-ists at the same event), losing to Chris Evert, Wendy Turnbull and Martina Navratilova respectively.

I'm now virtually certain (you can never be 100% certain you haven't missed something with cross-tournament searches like this unless you've got all the data and a computer to run through it all!) this is the first time three Brits have made WTA singles QFs in the same week since the 1970s. I'd guess it was Eastbourne week in 1978 but I haven't checked all the late 1970s players.

steven wrote:

---

The WTA's stats man Kevin Fischer has now confirmed that Eastbourne week 1978 was the last time 3 GB women made WTA singles QFs in the same week.

Clearly I should have just asked - d'oh! (even if it's nice to know my research turned up the correct answer!)

---

Outstanding!

Ah, the joy of the chase! When you dig through old Chichester & Brighton draws and the first two names you see in the QF are Brits... is there another... double check... Next!

Wow, nearer 40 years than 30 then; great work Steven as always :D

And yet the BBC site haven't even mentioned Broady's win except a quick sentence towards the end of Watson and Konta's article.. Poor Broady almost always ignored!

SF doubles match on another court is suspended due to rain