WELL DUNNE – BRITISH TEEN QUALIFIES FOR AEGON CLASSIC

Written by: Staff on 7th June 2014

DSC_70704584Birmingham saturday 7 batch1

WELL DUNNE - BRITISH TEEN QUALIFIES FOR AEGON CLASSIC |

Photo by Christopher Levy.

Well Dunne – British teen qualifies for main draw spot

British teenager Katy Dunne earned herself a place in the main draw of a WTA tournament for the first time when she won her final qualifying match at the Aegon Classic on Sunday.

Dunne,19, stunned the far more experienced Timea Babos (who was seeded second in qualifying) 6-2, 7-6(4), to follow on Saturday’s giant-killing win over Alize Lim. Dunne, who is from Hemel Hempstead, was granted a wildcard into qualifying in Birmingham and has made the most of her chance. Her victories so far at the Priory Club should see her break into the world’s top 400 for the first time.

Photo by Christopher Levy.

“I’ve definitely taken the opportunity because I’ve just qualified and I’m pretty chuffed at the moment,” said Dunne after beating Babos.”I thought I could win one round (so) I just thought go out there, try my best and see what happens and obviously I won and that gave me a bit of confidence that I carried through.

“It’s great to play in front of a home crowd. Obviously I’m used to smaller tournaments with no-one watching so this is amazing. Now I’m just going to let this sink in first and go out swinging for the first round in the main draw because I have nothing to lose”.

Two-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist Tamira Paszek, who is also a former champion of the Aegon International in Eastbourne, was also amongst the other qualifiers on Sunday.

Monday sees main draw matches get underway in Birmingham, with teenagers Donna Vekic and Belinda Bencic opening the tournament by playing the first match on the Ann Jones Centre Court.

Tickets to the Aegon Classic are now on sale. For more information and to purchase tickets please visit www.aegonclassic.co.uk

To find a playing partner, a local court or coach, register at www.allplaytennis.com.

• The Aegon Classic is upgraded to a WTA Premier 600 event in 2014 with prize money of over $700k

• 2014 is the 33rd staging of this WTA event in Birmingham which has been won previously by Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Maria Sharapova and Li Na.

• The LTA has invested £5 million into a £12 million redevelopment project at Edgbaston Priory Club to encourage wider participation and grow community access to tennis in the Midland’s, as well as securing the venue as a prominent international venue for racquet sport, attracting world class players to Birmingham and bringing vital business for the local economy.

• The 2014 Aegon Championships is one of three ATP & WTA grass court tournaments staged and run by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) in the run up to The Championships, Wimbledon.

• The Lawn Tennis Association’s (LTA) mission is to get more people playing tennis more often, and its role is to develop, promote and govern tennis in Britain.

• To find a playing partner, local court or coach please visit www.allplaytennis.com

• Aegon is Lead Partner of British Tennis and is helping to transform the sport in this country. They’re supporting young talent through the Aegon FutureStars programme, as well as sponsoring the junior and senior GB Davis and Fed Cup teams and amateur and professional events. Aegon sponsor three world-class grass court tournaments; the Aegon Classic, Aegon International and Aegon Championships and will also sponsor the new WTA and ATP events in Nottingham from 2015. For further information visit www.aegontennis.co.uk

• For more information on the LTA and British tennis, visit: www.lta.org.uk

Topics: AEGON Classic, Alize Lim, Katy Dunne, Lta, Priory Club, Tennis, Tennis News, Wta

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10sBalls_com says:

June 8, 2014 at 10:41 am

WELL DUNNE – BRITISH TEEN QUALIFIES FOR AEGON CLASSIC – http://t.co/CjVdH0w14P #Aegon #tennis #sports #WTA