Quotes:

Stoop, who was the top seed in the qualifying event, eased past Australian Alenka Hubacek 6-4, 6-2 but said afterwards that she was far from satisfied with her play during the match.

“I wasn't happy at all with the way I played – my serve was poor – but I won and it’s good to be in the main draw,” the Cambridgeshire 18-year-old said.

“After the match I went out and worked on my serve, so I’m feeling happier with it now!

“I play doubles on Tuesday which will give me a match to get my level back ready for my singles first round on Wednesday.”

Webley-Smith fought her way past Australian fourth seed Danielle Dominikovic 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 to set up an all-British clash with Cavaday.

The Bristol 22-year-old, who is on her way back after three operations on her right ankle, said she was feeling less than 100 per cent during the match.

“I woke up feeling queasy with a very dodgy stomach but had every intention of going out and doing all I could to win and that's exactly what I did even though as the match went on I felt worse,” she said.

“I feel pleased with myself for toughing it out and with three matches under my belt and a day to recover I'm looking forward to my first round against Naomi.”

Nineteen-year-old Khan, from Brighton, played a solid match to win 6-2, 6-3 against Kiwi Shona Lee and is rewarded with a first round contest with Australian wild card Shannon Golds.

“I coped well again with the conditions,” Khan said. “I expected before the tournament that I’d have to find a way to win any way I could and so far I've done that.

“Playing two qualifying matches is going to be a big advantage going into the main draw.”

And in the doubles...

Llewellyn/O'Donoghue bt Khan/Huck 64 63

Stoop/Webley-Smith bt Benad/Kovacevic 61 61

Cavaday/South bt Cattaneo/Widmer 63 62

No British casualties on Day one except half a doubles team that lost to a full british doubles team!

Nice!

Superb wins for Jane and Mel yesterday

Jane's win over Widmer was particularly impressive, especially on a slow outdoor court which doesn't really suit her game against an opponent ranked a lot higher. She hasn't reached a 25K quarter-final since November 2005 which shows how dire her year has been to be honest. Hopefully she can end that run here. It's great to see her winning matches again at this level.

Afterwards, South said the work she has done since arriving from China a week ago made the difference in the cold, windy conditions on Tuesday.

“I felt really ready for my match today,” South said.

“Since arriving from China, I've worked really hard on and off the court both physically and mentally.

“I knew that I may get nervous closing it out, so I did a lot of work preparing for this before I went on and it certainly paid off!”

The 20-year-old from Surrey faces German Antonia Matic in round two, who beat the Briton at a Chinese event in early August.

Lancashire’s O’Donoghue said that her victory over a player ranked 64 places higher than her in the WTA rankings was the perfect start to the tour.

“It’s always nice to get off to a good start on a trip by having a win, particularly a close match,” the British No.7 said.

“I'm going to be looking to build on this in my second round on Thursday.”

LTA coach Lucie Ahl, who is in Australia with the squad, said it had been a great start to the first of the trip’s three events.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better start from the girls, they worked hard leading up to their first round and have all been rewarded,” she said.

“The fact that they’re all winning is definitely pushing each other on.

“The key and test now is to keep this level up, they've set the bar high!”

Rd2 matches:

J O'Donoghue [GB] v E Barry [NZ]

G Stoop [GB][q] v N Grandin [RSA][5]

N Cavaday [GB] v F Haring [Fra][6]

M South [GB][2] v A Matic [Ger]


Jane's opponent is 17 and ranked 806. Ellen Barry has done well in 25Ks this autumn, she qualified for one in Melbourne and reached the quarters and then qualified for her. In rd1 she beat an Indonesian player ranked 324 in straight sets. It'll be tough for Jane but given her great win over Widmer in rd1, I reckon she'll win in 3.

Nathalie Grandin is ranked 247 in singles but 75 in doubles. Because of her doubles ranking she plays mainly WTAs and has a lot of success in doubles making several semis and finals. Singles-wise, she's qualified for a few but hasn't won a main draw WTA match this year. Her peak singles ranking is 144. Georgie aims to make the quarters each week down under to end the year in the top 300, Grandin will be a considerable obstacle.

Florence Haring has reached two semis and two quarters in 25Ks this year. She lost to Mel South and Rebecca Llewellyn in the 1st half of the year but in the 2nd half she's beaten Rebecca twice and Karen Paterson. Katie did beat her in straights in Nottingham. It's definately a winnable match for Naomi.

Matic is ranked 402 and did beat Mel in straights in Changsha in August but Mel was exhausted having had that incredible post-Wimbledon run. I'd expect her to get revenge this time.

Naomi is through, don't know the score though.

Georgie Stoop lost.

-- Edited by john at 06:19, 2006-11-09

Well done to Naomi and Mel. Pity they play each other next. (flipside - semifinalist guaranteed)

Good to see georgie took a set off Grandin.

Jane was out of her depth really...start of the slide!

It's a toughie. I think I'm going to have to root for Naomi. It would be great for Mel to keep the momentum up, but it's always exciting for the youngsters to do well.

As long as the winner goes on the take the tournament I'll be happy :)