Halesowen's Jordanne Whiley has capped another landmark week in her flourishing wheelchair tennis career by earning her debut inside the world's top 10 for the first time after winning Sunday's women's singles final at the Nottingham Indoor, part of the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour.
The 18-year-old British No 2, who is already set to end her last year as a junior player with the world No 1 junior ranking for the second season in succession, went into the Europe's last ITF 2 Series event of 2010 with a world senior ranking of No 13. However back-to-back wins over top 10 ranked Dutch opponents Aniek van Koot and Marjolein Buis in the semi-finals and final have resulted in Whiley rocketing to world No 10 in this week's world rankings published by the International Tennis Federation.
After starting the tournament with straight sets victories over British No 3 Louise Hunt and Sweden's Anna Alenas, fourth seed Whiley raced into a 3-0 lead in her her semi-final against world No 6 and top seed van Koot, but was eventually taken to a third and final set tie-break. However, she fought valiantly to earn four match points and wrapped up a thrilling 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(3) win for her first ever victory over van Koot when the Dutchwoman sent a forehand sailing over her Whiley’s baseline after three hours and 20 minutes of play.
Nottingham Tennis Centre has proved a fruitful hunting ground for Whiley this season, as on her last visit their in July she beat the then world No 5 en route to reaching her first Super Series semi-final at the British Open. On her return to the East Midlands, yet another career best awaited as Whiley went on to claim her first ITF 2 Series singles title after beating Buis in another tense three set encounter.
The final set saw four breaks of serve and after Whiley had struggled with her first serve during the majority of the match, she eventually strung together five first serves to clinch her third game in a row and wrap up a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.
"I can't quite believe it...I can't believe I beat Aniek, let alone going on to win my first ITF 2," said Whiley. "Both the semi and the final were roller coasters, in some games I played well and in others they played well. After going one set all with Aniek in the semi I thought she would go on and beat me, but I just tried to stay confident even thought towards the end I was so nervous. I went into the final with a sprained thumb, so to come through and to serve out the match like I did, I'm really happy."
While victory in the final has seen Whiley replace Buis as world No 10, the two players were on same side of the net for the women's doubles in Nottingham, which brought Whiley yet more success. The Anglo-Dutch top seeds were made to fight hard to secure a three set win over the German pairing of Sabine Ellerbrock and Katharina Kruger in the semi-final, but twice broke second seeds Hunt and van Koot in the middle of the first set of the final. Buis and Whiley broke their opponents three times and were broken only once in the second set as they recorded a 6-3, 6-3 victory, giving Whiley her fourth doubles title of the season on the NEC Tour.
The Nottingham tournament was Whiley's second with Buis as her partner after they paired up at last year's Camozzi Doubles Masters. The Dutchwoman stepped into partner Whiley in Nottingham after British No 1 Lucy Shuker was forced to make a late withdrawal from last week's tournament and Whiley now heads to this year's Doubles Masters in Italy in the last week of November, where she will pair up with Shuker.
The last time the British duo played together they won back-to-back doubles titles in Canada and the USA in September, with Whiley cracking two ribs in a fall when her tennis chair tipped up after she raced to retrieve a ball in the final of the latter tournament in South Carolina.
"I needed a couple of weeks out when I got back from the USA, but I healed well and actually, in my first training session back with my coach Nigel Hunter at David Lloyd Brierley Hill, I served a lot better than I had been doing for a while," said Whiley. "Perhaps the break did me good, but I'm now really looking forward to Doubles Masters. I think Lucy and I have a good chance of reaching the final after I finished fourth with Marjolein in my debut in the event last year."