Stefy Boffa has reached a career high of 248 in doubles after a semi-final appearance in the 75k in Shrewsbury following a close-fought encounter with Borwell/Nagel, losing 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 with partner Nikola Frankova. In singles she is also closing in on her career high 374 and would have easily achieved this had she been able to repeat her final qualifying victory over Vanessa Henke.

In a weird twist of luck, Henke got into the Main Draw as a lucky loser and was drawn to play Stefy again. Both contests were close and unfortunately the second one was more rewarding as far as points and prize money are concerned and the loss was a major disappointment for Stefy who was clearly on form. “Her game has matured a lot in the past three months and she is regularly competing on even terms with girls who are winning Challengers. She is knocking on the door of a semi or better in a Challenger which will give her a lot of confidence and a great boost towards top 300” says David Sammel, Director of Coaching.

Meanwhile Anna Fitzpatrick is delayed in her return to competition because of slow healing to the stress facture in her foot. This is a difficult time for the talented Sheffield player in her first year out of Juniors which she was hoping would see her end the year around 250. This goal will be delayed until 2009 as it seems unlikely she will compete again this year.

Wes Moodie, by contrast, is rehabilitating well and may return to competitive play in two weeks. He returns to the UK after an extended period recovering in South Africa and is hopeful he can play singles again, as well as rekindling the success partnership with Jeff Coetzee to yet make the Shanghai World Masters tournament in November.