Many Brits in action on day one of the Lexus Wrexham Open

Pictured: Eliz Maloney is through to the final qualifying round of the Lexus Wrexham Open. Picture: Malcolm Couzens.

The qualifying draw saw 15 Brits taking on players from across the world, including one, Lizette Cabrera, who has travelled all the way from Australia to take part in the Lexus Wrexham Open. Cabrera was ironically drawn to play against local girl Megan Davies, who is from Wrexham.

Just like last year, Davies, who trained and played at Wrexham Tennis & Padel Centre for many years after first picking up a racket at the age of four, received a wild card to play in the first qualifying round of the World Tennis Tour W100 tournament. Handed a tough draw against the Australian who is currently ranked 312 in the world, having been as high as 119, Davies was beaten 6-1, 6-1, but was pleased to have the opportunity to play in front of family and friends in her home city at a venue she knows so well.

"It was really exciting," said Davies, who recently started a PhD at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

"It was 50/50 whether I was going to get in with the wild card, so when I found out on Saturday night I was really excited to get on court.

"I had not played a match in a while due to university commitments, so it's been really nice, especially this tournament, and it was a goal of mine this year to be here.

"It was a tough draw against someone who's done very well on the tour, so I saw it more like excitement, obviously no pressure on myself. It was more go out there and see what I can do. She's a good player and I had fun, so it was good."

Elsewhere in the Carden Park Arena, the main show court for this week's tournament, Germany's Anna-Lena Friedsam, the number one seed in qualifying, progressed to the next round with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over British wild card Sophie Bekker.

Friedsam, currently ranked 242 in the world with a career-high of 45, will next meet Victoria Allen, a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 winner against Leticia Romanova in an all-British contest.

Another clash between two Brits unfortunately ended early owing to Indianna Spink having to retire through injury having lost the opening set 6-2 against Eliz Maloney, who impressively reached the quarter-finals of this W100 event in 2022 when the tournament was played in Shrewsbury before moving to Wrexham.

Maloney said: "It was a shame the match got cut short, but I think up to 4-2 when she rolled her ankle it was a good match. I think we were both playing well, I was feeling good and I just hope she recovers quickly."

Maloney has fond memories of her run to the last eight of this tournament in 2022: "That's still my best result to date, so hopefully can do one better this week, but definitely a lot of good memories," she added.

On the strength of this week's Lexus Wrexham Open, with seven players currently in the world's top 150 in the main draw, Maloney said: "A lot of good names, very stacked, so it will just be good to compete against players that I'm not used to competing against and challenge myself and see how it goes."

Maloney's next opponent tomorrow will be Germany's Tessa Johanna Brockmann, a 6-3, 6-4 winner against British player Mia Wainwright. Lois Newberry, another of the Brits in action on the opening day, was just edged out in the third set 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 by much higher ranked American Dalayna Hewitt.

Estonia's Elena Malygina, who reached the Lexus Wrexham Open semi-finals last year, lost the opening set to British player Savannah Dada-Mascoll before responding positively to advance to the next round. Dada-Mascoll impressively won the opener against an opponent ranked more than 1,000 places higher, before Malygina, the current world No. 265, hit back to progress 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.

She next faces Alice Gillan tomorrow after she got the the better of fellow Brit Lily Hutchings 6-3, 6-2, while Amelie Brooks lost 6-3, 6-3 against Germany's Caroline Werner.

Three British wild cards made first qualifying round exits. Annabel Wong took the first set before losing 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 to Czech player Petra Sedlackova, while Rosie Cho went down 6-2, 6-1 to Japan's Mayuka Aikawa and Liv Zingg lost 6-2, 6-4 to India's Ankita Raina.

The eight final qualifying round matches will be played on the indoor courts at Wrexham Tennis & Padel Centre tomorrow, starting at 10am, with admission for spectators to watch the action from courtside stands £8 for adults and £4 for under-16s.