Surbiton High School Isabelle L (Year 12) has been experiencing an incredible few weeks on the tennis courts.
Her recent victory at the U18 National Championships has earned her a place in the Wimbledon Women’s qualifying draw. Additionally, her junior world ranking guarantees her participation in the main draw of the Wimbledon Junior championships for the third consecutive year.
Last week, Isa also emerged victorious in her first pro league event in Felixstowe. This series of seven tournaments throughout the year culminates in the top nine players in Great Britain competing for the Pro League title (think premiership football) and a substantial cash prize.
Isa’s recent achievements have also granted her a wildcard entry into the qualifying draw of this week’s Surbiton Trophy. For those unfamiliar, this event serves as a Wimbledon warm-up for many players. Despite a challenging draw that pitted her against the world number 217 in the first round of qualifying, Isa triumphed, marking a tremendous performance. In the next round, she faced a more familiar opponent—a fellow Brit and former training partner of our very own Mr Elbekri. Despite holding a higher world ranking than Isa (approx 750 v 850), Isa once took a win to secure a place in the main draw.
In the main draw, Isa faced off against Madison Brengle, the current world number 95 and the third seed. Some of the tennis enthusiasts among you may be familiar with Madison’s name. Having reached at least the third round of every Grand Slam over her impressive career and consistently ranked within the year end top 75 players worldwide for the past decade, Madison posed a formidable challenge. Remarkably, Isa managed to defeat Madison in a gruelling three-set match where she showed unbelievable belief as well as quality tennis.
Isabelle is now scheduled to play her main draw second-round match this afternoon against the world number 170. The match will be live-streamed here –https://live.itftennis.com/en/live-streams/ – she will be the third match on Court 2.
Again, this wouldn’t be possible without the fantastic support she receives from you all both in and outside the classroom. Congratulations Isa on your outstanding achievements!
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Categories: Senior School Senior School Sports