Jodie Burrage needed 81 minutes to put away Eva Vedder, and when the final point of a tight second set went her way, the 27-year-old Briton had her first main-draw win at the Lexus Wrexham Open. Burrage beat the world No. 180 from the Netherlands 6-2, 7-5 in the opening match of the day at the Wrexham Tennis & Padel Centre, and within hours she had company: Alicia Dudeney came through 6-4, 6-4 against Germany’s Tessa Johanna Brockmann to complete a British double and send both players into the second round of the World Tennis Tour W100.
“I’m really happy to get through,” Burrage said. “She’s a really tough player and has won a lot of tournaments this year. She put up a good fight in that second set. I’m glad I managed to hold onto it.”
The wins closed out a first round that had already been kind to the home contingent — 17-year-old Hannah Klugman beat American Fiona Crawley 6-2, 6-2 the previous day — and brutal to the seeds. Second seed Alina Charaeva, the world No. 99 from Armenia who stunned world No. 1 Elena Rybakina earlier this season, was beaten 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 by Czech qualifier Anna Siskova. Top seed Anna Blinkova survived against Lithuania’s Andre Lukosiute, and Rebecca Sramkova saw off Mona Barthel.
Burrage’s long road back
Context matters with Burrage. She was world No. 85 in September 2023, inside the top 100 and trusted with Billie Jean King Cup duty for Great Britain. Then, in February 2024, she had surgery on a snapped tendon in her wrist. She ruptured an ankle ligament in practice during the rehabilitation, costing her another 10 weeks, and has spoken openly about considering retirement during that stretch.
She now sits at world No. 601 and British No. 18 — a number that tells you almost nothing about how she hits a tennis ball and everything about how long she has been off the tour. Rebuilding has meant W35s rather than WTA 500s: semi-finals in Aldershot and Roehampton in August, a doubles title in Birmingham alongside Lizette Cabrera this month. A W100 wild card in North Wales is a meaningful rung up that ladder, and beating a player ranked 420 places above her is the kind of result that accelerates the climb.
The 6-2 first set was the version of Burrage that reached the top 100: heavy first strike, redirecting the ball early, forcing Vedder to play from behind the baseline. The second was the version still finding match sharpness — a lead surrendered, then recovered at 5-5 with the two best return games of the match.
Dudeney’s breakthrough season
Dudeney, 23, arrived in Wrexham on a very different trajectory. She is British No. 7 and has won five World Tennis Tour titles in 2026, the most productive year of her career, and backed that volume up with quality by beating top-50 player Antonia Ruzic at the WTA 125 Samsun Open in Turkey. Where Burrage is recovering ground, Dudeney is taking it for the first time.
Her win over Brockmann was clinical rather than spectacular — two breaks of serve in each set, no breaks conceded in the second, and no suggestion that the occasion weighed on her.
“I thought I played really well out there,” she said. “I think it was a great first match.”
That composure is the thing to watch. W100 draws are where ranking points become genuinely useful: deep runs here are what move players from the margins of qualifying into direct entry at WTA 125s and tour-level events, and Dudeney is squarely in the window where those points compound.
What comes next
Both reward brings a seed, and neither draw is generous. Burrage faces fourth seed Noma Noha Akugue of Germany, ranked around No. 127, a former WTA finalist with the pace off the ground to test a player still building rhythm. Dudeney meets seventh seed Susan Bandecchi of Switzerland, close behind Noha Akugue in the rankings and a far more experienced operator at this level.
- Burrage v Noma Noha Akugue (GER, 4)
- Dudeney v Susan Bandecchi (SUI, 7)
- Klugman v Anna Siskova (CZE)
With Charaeva gone and the bottom half opened up, the draw has already lost one of its anchors. Second-round play begins at 10am, and three British women remain — one trying to prove she still belongs where she used to be, one trying to prove she belongs there at all, and a 17-year-old who may get there faster than either.
**Sources:** [LTA — Lexus Wrexham Open 2026 results & live updates](https://www.lta.org.uk/fan-zone/international/lexus-wrexham-open/news/2026/results-and-live-updates/) · [North Wales Chronicle — Burrage and Dudeney make progress](https://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/sport/26658837.burrage-dudeney-make-progress-lexus-wrexham-open/) · [LTA — British players ahead of the Wrexham Open](https://www.lta.org.uk/about-us/in-your-area/tennis-wales/news/2026/october/british-players-looking-forward-to-the-start-of-the-lexus-wrexham-open-this-weekend/) · [LTA — Jodie Burrage player profile](https://www.lta.org.uk/fan-zone/british-tennis-players/jodie-burrage/) · [Wrexham.com — Klugman through to round two](https://wrexham.com/news/british-teenager-hannah-klugman-through-to-the-second-round-at-the-lexus-wrexham-open-301081.html)
Article is 735 words. Two notes on the brief: the LTA logs these wins on tournament **day four** (second day of main-draw play, with qualifying on 19 October), so I wrote “completed the first round” rather than “day two” — flag if you want the brief’s wording kept. Noha Akugue’s “former WTA finalist” credit is from her 2023 Hamburg run; everything else is directly sourced above.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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