Anna Fitzpatrick has broken into the world's top 600 female tennis players.

The former Woodhouse Grove pupil reached the final of the $10,000 tournament in Sunderland, losing 6-4, 6-1 to Swiss top seed Gaelle Widmer.

However, the run to the decider was enough to lift 17-year-old seventh seed Fitzpatrick 55 places up the rankings to a career-high 588.

The Sheffielder, who won the Ilkley title on grass last July, also reached the final of another $10,000 event the following month in London.

In the Sunderland semi-finals, Fitzpatrick was in sensational form, demolishing second seed Aurelie Vedy 6-0, 6-1, despite the French girl being nearly 400 places higher than her at 296. The Briton served superbly and was very solid from the back of the court.

In the quarter-finals, the teenager had had a much tougher time of things, defeating fellow Monte Carlo Academy player Ana Veselinovic, the fourth seed from Serbia, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-2.

Veselinovic is 19 and was ranked about 200 places higher than her opponent at 450. Melissa Gibb (Britain) fell 6-1, 6-1 to Fitzpatrick in the second round and unorthodox German Natalie Fehse was a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victim in the opening match.