ZOE Judkowski fears that her ankle injury may require surgery.

The 20-year-old Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club member revealed the bad news after her 6-3, 6-2 defeat against third seed Eve Daniels in the final qualifying round of the British Tour women’s singles today.

“I dislocated it a year ago and have had an insole in my foot but I went over on it again yesterday and it may need surgery,” said Judkowski.

This tournament marks the return to competitive play for the Loughborough University sports science student and she could have done without a two-hour plus match two days ago.

Judkowski, whose ankle was heavily strapped, defeated Emily Thomas 3-6, 6-4, 13-11, saving two match points in the champions’ tie-break.

She then received a walkover against ninth seed Veronika Hughes before losing in 79 minutes to Cheshire county player Daniels today on a hard court in a match of eight breaks of serve, six of which came in the first set.

“That contest against Eve was only my second competitive match,” revealed Judkowski, which goes some way to explaining her rustiness.

She put together many fine points, but could not do it on a consistent enough basis, dropping serve in the first game due to errors on the backhand against 18-year-old Daniels, who is bound for the University of Texas El Paso in the autumn.

Clubmate Kyle Brassington went one better than Judkowski, qualifying for the men’s singles main draw by beating Will Gray 6-2, 6-4 in an early-morning match indoors today.

Brassington, 32, served too powerfully for an opponent from Newcastle who was half his age.

The former World Student Games representative, who is also British Tour tournament director at Ilkley as well as the club’s tennis performance director, broke serve in the third game due to the teenager’s errors and backed that up with another break in the fifth game.

Brassington again broke in the third game of the second set and held on to that advantage to earn a first-round match against Matthew Hollingworth.

There was no joy, however, for Brassington’s fellow Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club member Thomas Horsley.

The 16-year-old from Addingham, who defeated Sergio Lee Gutierrez 6-1, 6-2 in the first round of qualifying and seventh seed Cameron Isbell 6-1, 6-3 in the second round, fell 6-2, 6-1 to Beverley’s Joshua Lazenby in the final qualifying round.

“I played much better against Isbell,” admitted Horsley afterwards.

Lazenby, 19, is about to embark on his second year as a student at Lenoir Rhyne University in North Carolina.

Other qualifiers in the men’s singles were Tom Owen, Christopher Edge, Ying Hou, Hamish Stewart, Oliver Nolan and Matthew Telford.

Qualifiers in the women’s singles included Madeline Frediani, Suzy Larkin, Daniels, Lisa Zhu and Isabelle Eaton,