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.
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