Ilkley Tennis Club is hoping that local boy Ross Connolly makes it to finals day at the 108th Ilkley Open Tennis Tournament this weekend.

The Ilkley Open incorporates the LTA Men's and Ladies' Tour event which attracts players from all over the UK.

Among them is Florida-based Connolly who has returned to his home-town club to play in the British Tour event.

The 21-year-old was coached at the Ilkley club by Simon Ickringill until leaving for the famous Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy - the base for Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova and originally Andre Agassi - three years ago.

Connolly has also been dipping his toes in the water of men's professional tennis, playing in many $10,000 tournaments and achieving a best world ranking of 1,336 in April, 2003.

Currently unranked worldwide, the former Yorkshire under-18 champion was a direct entrant into the main draw which started on Wednesday.

Last week Connolly lost in the qualifying for the Recin-ata Challenger, losing 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Italy's Dario Pizzato.

Heading the men's field at Ilkley is Lancashire's Simon Roberts, a former winner of the boys'under-18 singles at the Batley Fischer Junior Open.

His main rivals appear to be Alex Miotto (Hampshire & the Isle of Wight), Daniel McShane (Nottinghamshire), James Cuthell (Sussex), former Wimbledon boys' quarter-finalist Ken Skupski (Lancashire) and John Lister.

Connolly apart, home club interest has been provided by Jonathan Yip, Martin McCann, Kyle Brassington and Ryan Royston.

The women's singles could well provide a Yorkshire winner as county runner-up Carina Dalton (Sheffield) is the most highly-rated entrant. Avon's Jheni Osman and Cheshire's Samantha Murray are expected to provide her with some stern opposition, however.

Backing up Dalton's White Rose bid is Yorkshire semi-finalist Rebecca Sowden (Academy at Harrogate), Keighley-based Jennifer Nemeth (Halifax Queens), Victoria Sharpley (Hull YPI) and Thongsbridge's Alex Cummine.

The tournament is a Tier Two category on the British Tour which means a first prize of £350 for the men and £225 for the women, with the respective runners-up taking home £125 and £75.

Play commences each day at 10am with the finals on Saturday. Entry to the event is free as sponsorship is provided by the Skipton Building Society and OHS.

In the opening phases of the men's singles 21 year-old Bath University student Jonathan Yip from Ilkley met his clubmate Kyle Brassington in the second round.

Brassington celebrated his 17th birthday a day late last Saturday when he won the boys' U-18 singles at the West Bridgeford Tournament in Nottingham.

In the opening round at Ilkley he beat Michael Brown 6-4, 6-4.

In the second round he beat fellow Ilkley member Yip who qualified by beating Heaton's Saad Abbas from Bingley 7-6 (7-), 6-1. Brassington triumphed 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) to reach the final qualifying round where he lost to Londoner Ala Tehrani 7-6, 6-1.

Two other Ilkley members, Martin McCann and Ryan Royston, went out in the first round. Northumbria University student McCann lost 6-4, 6-2 to American Charles Tsuda. The 20 year-old was never the same after breaking a string at 4-4 in the first set.

"That meant I had to use a racquet with a hairline crack in the frame," said McCann.

Royston's game was his first singles match in four years. He now spends much of his time playing centre-half for Maidstone United and teaching.

A pulled stomach muscle did not help the 23 year-old and he lost 7-5, 6-3 to Surrey's Tom Sutton.

The best known name on court on Monday was Jasper Cooper. The 51 year-old former Hampshire player who was No 20 in Britain in 1976, won his first round match against Eugene Bann 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

A second match proved too much and the man who is really at the tournament to support daughter Rebecca, 19, and son Joe, 18 - both full time players - lost 6-0, 6-0 to Cleveland's Nick Osborne.

Play in the tournament got underway last weekend with some of the 29 local categories for juniors and veterans alike. Ilkley was well represented in the latter stages of the U-14 competition with Sam Horrix, the No 2 seed, looking to get through along with fellow seeds Adam Lesiak, Gabriel Hopkins and Hayden Andrews. In the U-12 girls Ilkley's Catrin Morgan reached the final due to be played on Wednesday.