KAIA Kanepi, who has reached five Grand Slam quarter-finals, heads an impressive women's field for the Aegon Ilkley Trophy, which starts a week on Saturday.

The Estonian, who is 30 next Wednesday and will then have been a professional for half her life, was a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon in 2010 and 2012, was in the last eight of the French Open last year and in 2012 and has also been to the quarter-finals of the US Open in 2010.

World No 50 Kanepi, whose serve has been timed at 180kph (almost 112mph), is one of eight players ranked in the top 100 to enter the $50,000 ITF Women's Pro Circuit Tournament.

While she has won four Women's Tennis Association (WTA) titles under her belt, the second-ranked Annika Beck, who is world No 83 and reached the third round of this year's French Open, has one – in Luxembourg last year.

Kanepi apart, if it is a fast serve that you want, then look no further than Denisa Allertova from the Czech Republic.

The 22-year-old has been timed at 124.9mph this year – the second quickest by a woman this year and the eighth quickest of all time.

Other players who are ranked in the top 100 are Vitalia Diatchenko (Russia, 91), Pauline Parmentier (France, 95), Stefanie Voegele (Switzerland, 96), Yulia Putintseva (Kazakhstan, 99) and Andreea Mitu (Romania, 100).

Mitu defeated 12th seed Karolina Pliskova in the second round of the French Open, while there are a 14 players entered at Ilkley – the biggest tournament ever in Yorkshire – who are ranked between 101 and 120.

Among them is 21-year-old German Anna-Lena Friedsam, who took the first set off Serena Williams in the second round of the French Open last Thursday before losing 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.

Among the players in qualifying is Japan's remarkable Kimiko Date-Krumm, who is ranked 150 in the world, despite being 44.

Leading the British challenge is 6ft 2in former Woodhouse Grove pupil Naomi Broady, whose brother Liam is in the entry for the $50,000 ATP Challenger, which is running alongside the women's tournament.

Among the withdrawals is 1999 Wimbledon semi-finalist Alexandra Stevenson from the United States.

Ilkley is the newest addition to the Women’s ITF Pro Circuit and the Men’s ATP Challenger Tour and is part of the short grass court season in the run-up to Wimbledon.

Charlie Maunder, the club's general manager, said: “The quality of female players will offer spectators a showcase of world-class tennis never before seen on Yorkshire soil, with a top-50 seed and a dozen of the top 100 players."

Tickets can be purchased by phone on 0844 5816903 or online at https://www.theticketfactory.com/ltaci/online/.