BINGLEY’S Holly Huby has surprised herself by qualifying for the main draw of the women’s singles at the LTA Lexus British Tour event at Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club.

The 17-year-old, who is a member at the host club, won two rounds of qualifying on their grass courts yesterday.

Firstly, she defeated fourth seed Anna McBride from Stirling University 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 in a match that swung to and fro before the former Heaton member beat Julia Plaszczynska 6-2, 6-1.

The match against 20-year-old McBride, from Dunfermline, was a switchback affair.

Huby, who is coached at Ilkley by former Tour player Kyle Brassington, had the power on her serve to give her an edge, but didn’t give herself enough of a margin for error with her groundstrokes.

Too often she hit too close to the lines, either over-hitting or putting the ball wide when she needed to cut herself more slack in a tricky crosswind.

“I played better in my second match,” admitted Huby, who has been at Ilkley now for six years, “as I probably did hit for the lines too much in my first match.

“I didn’t expect to qualify as I was playing a seed in my first match but I played pretty well overall and my main asset is my serve and trying to win free points on it.”

While it was a day to celebrate for Huby, it certainly wasn’t for Tom Horsfall, who was seeded fourth in the men’s singles qualifying.

The 23-year-old Leeds Beckett University student from Ilkley lost 6-2, 6-3 in the final qualifying round to Watford’s Harry Jordan.

The 21-year-old, who has just finished four years studying at Union College in Kentucky, had the edge on power over Horsfall, who has been struggling with sickness.

“I am feeling slightly better, but still not great,” said Horsfall after his defeat.

“My porridge yesterday morning was the first thing that I had eaten for two days, but since then I have had some spag bol, a bit of tea, and a bit of breakfast this morning, but not too much.

“I am still low on energy but not as much as yesterday, although I didn’t play great. He was moving me around well and exploited my lack of movement, although I was striking it well.”

The LTA Lexus British Tour is a Grade Two tournament, but Horsfall is still left in the Grade Three Ilkley Open, which is running alongside it.

“I am in the men’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles,” said Horsfall.

Both tournaments finish on Saturday.