Many British players will travel to the north-east this week as Sunderland’s Puma Tennis Centre hosts a men’s and women’s $10k event.
Richard Bloomfield, who won the title at Campden Hill LTC in London last week, will be the top seed and favourite to lift the trophy on Wearside as he searches for back-to-back victories.
Ken Skupski and Colin Fleming will be attempting to win their third consecutive doubles title together after the pair teamed up to triumph in Glasgow and London during the last fortnight.
Competing in her fifth senior event, 14 year-old Laura Robson will be the highest ranked Brit in the women’s event. Since her famous victory at The Championships in July, the British junior No 1 reached the semi-final at the $75k event in Shrewsbury before making her Sony Ericsson WTA Tour debut in Luxembourg.
Also competing in the main draw will be Katharina Brown, Tara Moore, Yasmin Clarke and Lucy Warburton while Steph Cornish, Hannah James, Lisa Whybourn and Helen Parish have all received wildcards [more details].
Elsewhere, British No 1 Anne Keothavong is seeded No 6 at the $100k event in Krakow, Poland. The 25 year-old is partnering South African Kelly Anderson in the doubles while Sarah Borwell, who is currently at a career high doubles world ranking of No 123, is teaming up with American Courtney Nagle. British No 3 Elena Baltacha is also in action at the $50k event in Ismaning.
In the men’s game, Britain’s top three doubles players, Jamie Murray, Ross Hutchins and Jamie Delgado, are playing at the Bratislava Challenger. Meanwhile, Josh Goodall, James Ward and Chris Eaton are competing at the Rimouski Challenger and Alex Bogdanovic and James Auckland are playing at Challengers in Nashville and Eckental respectively.
* Photo: Colin Fleming (by Tommy Hindley)