Anna-Lena Friedsam is looking forward to the main draw at the Lexus Wrexham Open after successfully winning her final qualifying round match – while three British players will play their first round singles matches tomorrow.

German star Friedsam, currently ranked 242 in the world having been as high as 45 earlier in her career, was seeded No.1 in the qualifying rounds and is pleased to have booked a place in the main draw of the World Tennis Tour W100 tournament. She will face Italian Noemi Basitelli in the first round tomorrow.

Three British wild cards will be in first round singles action tomorrow, with Hannah Klugman drawn against American Fiona Crawley, while Daniella Britton will face Australian Lizette Cabrera and Ameila Rajecki will play Suzan Lamens from the Netherlands.

Four more Brits – Freya Christie, Eden Silva, Savannah Dada-Mascoll and Alicia Dudeney – will all feature in the first round of the doubles tomorrow.

The Wrexham event is the biggest women’s tennis tournament, outside of the grass court season, in the UK this year, with a high-quality entry list of British and international players hoping to feature in Sunday’s final.

It includes a number of players from the world’s top 200, including two, Anna Blinkova and Alina Charaeva, both currently ranked in the top 100, and is the strongest field in terms of attracting the most top 200 players in the history of this event.

Friedsam, who reached the fourth round of the Australian Open in 2016, was a 7-6, 6-3 winner over British player Victoria Allen in today’s opening match in the Carden Park Arena at Wrexham Tennis & Padel Centre, overturning a 3-0 deficit in the second set to complete victory.

“It was a tough fight in the first set,” said Friedsam. “It was very close and it could go both ways, and second set, after 0-3, I found a way how to play her and I felt much calmer with my game.”

Looking ahead to the main draw, Friedsam added: “I’m very happy now with my two wins. I was number one seeded. I wished I could start in the main draw directly, but now I’m happy with my wins and it gives me confidence for the main draw. I think it’s good to have some matches and, yes, let’s see. I’m looking forward.”

Friedsam, who won this tournament when it was a lower level event played in Shrewsbury, has good memories of her title triumph from 2017.

“I won the tournament there and I played very good tennis at that time,” she said. “I hope I can keep going like this round by round. Now the tournament starts for me in the main draw, so let’s see how far I can go.”

The two other British players in action in the final qualifying round were also beaten by higher ranked players today. Germany’s Tessa Johanna Brockmann got the better of Eliz Maloney 6-3, 6-3, while Estonian Elena Malygina, who reached the semi-finals at last year’s Lexus Wrexham Open, was a 6-3, 6-2 winner against Alice Gillan.

There were also wins for Lizette Cabrera, Sofya Lansere, Dalayna Hewitt, Caroline Werner and Andre Lukosiute.

Tomorrow’s matches – the first rounds in both singles and doubles will be played on both Tuesday and Wednesday – start at 10am, with admission £19 for adults and £14 for under-16s, which also includes a 44-page tournament programme, to enjoy the action from court side stands.

Featured: Anna-Lena Friedsam beat Victoria Allen to book a place in the main draw of the Lexus Wrexham Open. Picture: Malcolm Couzens.

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