International tennis returns to the historic Edgbaston Priory Club next week, as the Aegon GB Pro-Series gets underway from 5th -11th February. The venue, which has hosted the Aegon Classic Birmingham on its famous grass courts since 1982, welcomes world-class women’s tennis again. The tournament is an International Tennis Federations (ITF) women’s $15,000 event and will be see both a singles and doubles draw played at the venue’s indoor tennis centre.
British teen star Katie Swann will lead the home charge when the tournament gets underway. The Bristolian, who made her full WTA tour debut at the Aegon Classic Birmingham in 2015 and the final of the junior Australian Open in the same year, has high hopes ahead of her, having already played main draw of The Championships, Wimbledon and represented Great Britain in the Fed Cup last year.
Top seed at this year’s Aegon GB Pro Series Edgbaston is Melanie Stokke. The 20 year old Norwegian is just five places off her career high ranking of 345 which she achieved towards the end of 2016. She has worked her way up the rankings over the last few years, collecting three singles and two double titles along the way and will be looking for more success in Birmingham. The draw also sees Petrja Krejsova who won the last two $10,000 events in Great Britain last year. She will be hoping her good run on British soil continues, looking to add to wins in Sheffield and Shrewsbury at the tail end of 2016.
Hoping to join them in the main draw will be a number of British players in the qualifying draw throughout Sunday 5th and Monday 6th February.
Tournament director Dave Malia said: “The club are excited to be showcasing international tennis in conjunction with the LTA. The tournament provides midlands tennis fans an opportunity to get up close to some quality tennis and will surely whet appetites ahead of the full WTA tournament this summer. Entry is free of charge and so I’d encourage people to come and see a wonderful week of tennis, culminating with the singles final at 11:00am on 11th February.”
A daily order of play and results will be posted on the LTA website throughout.