From the LTA:

Surrey 18-year-old Anna Smith has firmly established herself as a rising star of British tennis after enjoying a breakthrough month in September.

Smith had a strong argument for taking the LTA.org.uk August player of the month title after winning the 18-and-under Ariel British National Championships and reaching the final of the Ilkley $10,000 event.

But the Sutton Junior Tennis Centre-based player has proved those two events were no fluke by going one better in September.

She began the month at No.641 in the WTA world singles rankings and ended September 92 places higher at No.549 after winning her first $10,000 ITF title in Nottingham.

It wasn’t just the fact that Smith collected her first professional singles title – it was also the way she did it, too, rattling off five victories without the loss of a single set.

Smith then left for Nantes, France where she qualified for the main draw of a $25,000 event last weekend – saving a match point in the second round in the process – before beating British No.8 Jane O’Donoghue in round one of the main draw.

“I feel I’ve done well recently because my concentration has improved a lot and mentally I am much stronger in matches,” said the British No.15.

“Winning Nottingham has been good for my confidence but it’s only a stepping stone on to better things to come I hope.

“My goals for the rest of the year are to look to be in the top 400 in the world or higher.

“After Nantes, I'm going to play the $25,000 events in Jersey and Glasgow.”