FOR the first time in the six-year history of the Ilkley Trophy, Great Britain have two women through to the quarter-finals.

One was guaranteed in the second-round clash in the $100,000 Women’s World Tour event between Sonay Kartal and Lily Miyazaki, with Kartal battling back to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, but Jodie Burrage also qualified for the last eight.

The 23-year-old British No.7 defeated fifth seed Mai Hontama (Japan) 6-3, 6-2 in just 71 minutes, hitting some punishing returns of serve.

The only previous British women’s quarter-finalist was Harriet Dart four years ago.

Burrage admitted: “I played a really good match. Obviously it was pretty straightforward. I served really well and returned really well.

“My opponent doesn’t have the biggest of serves and I really capitalised on that and used it to my advantage to get on top of the points right at the start.

“I played her pretty smart and am just happy to be through to the next round.”

Kartal’s match against 26-year-old Miyazaki had an unfortunate end as the latter could not move to return serve in the last game, seemingly having twisted her left knee, and ended up on the floor behind the baseline after the final point.

The physio, who had presumably been called for just minutes before, ironically arrived on court seconds after the final point finished, with Miyazaki then receiving treatment for several minutes before being helped off court.

Today Kartal, 20, who is having an excellent year, is first up on Centre Court against Switzerland’s Simona Waltert, while Burrage is third on against fourth seed Daria Snigur (Ukraine).

The latter also does not have a powerful serve, but her court craft and counter punching was just enough to see off erratic 17-year-old British qualifier Ranah Stoiber.

The teenager from Middlesex could not quite place enough big first serves away from the racquet of Snigur, who timed her returns well, but Stoiber also made too many unforced errors in a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 defeat.

With more experience under her belt, this was a contest that Stoiber could certainly have won, but this was only her second 100K tournament, her debut having come at Nottingham last year.

Meanwhile, there is Leeds interest in both doubles draws.

Scot Aidan McHugh and Leeds’ Luke Johnson defeated French duo Lucas Pouille and Constant Lestienne 6-4, 4-6, 10-7 in the quarter-finals, Johnson sealing the win with a forehand pass, much to the delight of No 3 Court.

The 28-year-old from Leeds said: “We got off to a really good start, which helped us. They’re two very well-established singles players, so we knew we had to assert ourselves on the court early, and we did that.

“We also knew that there would be twists and turns so it was good to get through.”

The wild cards will face India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan and Australian JP Smith in the semi-finals.

There is also British interest in the other semi-finals, with wild cards Julian Cash and Henry Patten meeting top seeds Fabrice Martin (France) and Hugo Nys (Monaco).

Cash and Patten beat Nick Monroe and Max Schnur 6-2, 6-1 in their quarter-final.

In the women’s doubles, wild cards Scot Maia Lumsden and Naiktha Bains, of Shadwell, defeated fourth seeds Ingrid Gamarra Martins (Brazil) and experienced Briton Emily Webley Smith 2-6, 6-3, 11-9.

They will now face second seeds Estelle Cascino and Jessika Ponchet of France.

In the other semi-final, British wild cards Kartal and Nell Miller will meet Lizette Cabrera (Australia) and Sujeong Jang (Korea) after defeating Arina Rodionova (Australia) and Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) 6-3, 2-1 retired.

In the $125,000 ATP Challenger Tour men’s singles, wild card Dan Cox, 31, from Lincoln, lost 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 in a battle of qualifiers in the second round, while fourth seed John Millman (Australia) went down 6-4, 6-2 to Dutch qualifier Gijs Brouwer.