SOME of them are expected to be awarded wild cards later this week but there will still be plenty of British interest in the $250,000 Aegon Ilkley Trophy, which starts on Saturday and finishes a week on Sunday.

Among the men who could well be taking part in the $150,000 ATP Challenger are 2016 Wimbledon sensation Marcus Willis, last year's Ilkley Trophy semi-finalist Brydan Klein and Stockport left-hander Liam Broady.

Indeed, the Broadys could be out in force as Liam's sister Naomi, who studied at Woodhouse Grove School, is a potential entrant for the $100,000 ITF Women's Futures tournament which runs alongside the men's event.

World No 209 Klein only lost 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 in a tense last-four tie last summer to Vincent Millot, who was beaten in the final by Yen-Hsun Lu.

Fellow left-hander Willis, who won six matches to qualify for Wimbledon when he was world No 772 before defeating No 54 Ricardas Berankis to earn the right to face Roger Federer, is now ranked 386.

One Briton who has been making waves this year in his rookie professional season and might play at Ilkley is former world junior No 10 Cameron Norrie, who is up to 230 in the senior rankings.

Ed Corrie, who was a semi-finalist in the Hungarian Challenger Open this year and is ranked 351, and Alexander Ward – who is 856 but was as high as 242 last year – are other possibles.

Naomi Broady, who has been inside the world's top 100, is currently 115 and could be kept company at Ilkley by 20-year-old Harriet Dart.

She made her main WTA Tour debut in 2015 at the Aegon International and has since reached a career-high 278, while Katy Dunne (318) and Freya Christie (350) are also on Ilkley's radar.

Deadline for players to register is tomorrow night, while the men's qualifying will be held on Saturday and Sunday and the women's qualifying on Sunday and Monday. The men's main draw begins on Monday and the women's main draw starts on Tuesday.

Both main draws for the Aegon Ilkley Trophy include a higher ranking cut-off than ever before and competition will be fierce for the remaining spaces.

Tickets for this weekend's qualifying rounds are free. For more information or to book, visit www.iltsc.co.uk/aegon-ilkley-trophy.