British number five Lily Miyazaki sets up second round Budgen W100 Shrewsbury clash against Hannah Klugman
Pictured: Lily Miyazaki, Katie Swan and Hannha Klugman during their first round wins in the Budgen W100 Shrewsbury tournament. Picture: Richard Dawson Photography.
Lily Miyazaki, who recently reached the second round of the US Open, was one of four British first round winners as the main draw matches in the Budgen W100 Shrewsbury tournament got under way. The British number five progressed to the last 16 of the ITF World Tennis Tour event at The Shrewsbury Club with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over fellow Brit Emily Appleton earlier today.
Miyazaki, 27, will now face Hannah Klugman in the second round on Thursday after the 14-year-old British prospect continued her fine run in Shropshire with a third win in as many days. Miyazaki, this week’s sixth seed, said: "It was a tough match because Emily and I know each other pretty well. We practise together, we play doubles together, so it’s always going to be a tough match.
"I think we both started off quite slow, but I’m happy I managed to get through it in the end.”
Currently ranked 163 in the world, Miyazaki enjoyed an impressive run at the US Open, winning four matches in New York, three of them in the qualifiers, before losing in the second round to Belinda Bencic at the end of August.
"The US Open was definitely the highlight of my year I would say so far, but I think in tennis we move on so quickly,” added Miyazaki.
"After the US Open, I’ve already played three tournaments and I’ve lost first round in all of them, so it’s really up and down.
“But I’m just taking it one match at a time and will just hopefully try and build from the US Open.”
Miyazaki is pleased to be back in Shrewsbury at a venue she knows well: "I think this is my fourth time here,” she said. "It’s a really nice event and it’s nice to play in front of some fans as well.”
One of ten British players to feature in this week’s singles main draw, she reflected: "It’s great to have so many British players, especially a lot of the younger ones as well. I hope to do well and just see where I can get to.”
Miyazaki’s second round opponent will be Klugman after the teenager, having emerged from the qualifying rounds, impressively got the better of Poland’s Gina Feistel 6-3, 7-5 in her first round match. Klugman has this week become the youngest player ever to qualify for an ITF World Tennis Tour W100 tournament after earning her place in the main draw in Shrewsbury. The previous youngest player to qualify for a W100 tournament was Coco Gauff, the US Open champion, who was aged 15 when she went on reach the quarter-finals at W100 Charleston in 2019.
Katie Swan and Fran Jones were the other British first round winners in Shrewsbury today. Swan enjoyed a 6-2, 6-2 victory in just over an hour against Dalma Galfi, the fifth seed, in the day’s opening match in the DMOS People Arena, while Jones took the opening set on a tiebreak and was in front in the second set when her opponent, qualifier Emma Lene, retired owing to injury.
Anna Brogan’s hopes of joining her fellow Brits in round two ended with a 6-3, 6-4 defeat against Marina Melnikova, who will next face second seed Oceane Dodin, after the French player, who was Shrewsbury champion in both 2014 and 2015, overcame Katarina Stresnakova 6-0, 6-3.
The day’s other winners were Estonian Elena Malygina, who knocked out seventh seed Fiona Ferro 6-4, 6-1, and Suzan Lamens from the Netherlands, a 1-6, 6-0, 6-1 winner against Kajsa Rinaldo Persson. Four more Brits, led by fourth seed Harriet Dart, who faces qualifier Nahia Berecoechea, play their first round matches tomorrow. Isabelle Lacy plays Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic, this week’s top seed, while Amarni Banks and Katy Dunne, having both received wild cards, play each other.