Alicia Dudeney needed two hours and 51 minutes to get off court at the Wrexham Tennis & Padel Centre on Thursday, and not one of them was wasted. The unseeded Briton, ranked 232nd in the world, beat Switzerland’s Susan Bandecchi — the seventh seed and No. 139 — 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 to extend a winning run that now stands at seven matches, and to make it a clean sweep of British wins on day three of the Lexus Wrexham Open.
Dudeney was joined in Friday’s quarter-finals by Jodie Burrage, who dismantled fourth seed Noma Noha Akugue, and 17-year-old Hannah Klugman, who needed less than 90 minutes to see off the higher-ranked Anna Siskova. Three British women in the last eight of the UK’s biggest women’s event outside the grass-court season is the sort of return the LTA built this week for.
Dudeney goes the distance
Dudeney had the first set in 36 minutes and looked set to close it out in two, only for Bandecchi to force a tie-break and take it 7-4. Plenty of players ranked nearly 100 places below their opponent would have folded from there. Dudeney instead held her serve together through a tense decider and broke late to win it.
“That was a very long match,” she said afterwards. “It was really nice to get through that one. I think I played really well today.”
The form is not an accident. Dudeney arrived in north Wales having won the W35 title in Birmingham, and the Bandecchi win is comfortably the best of the streak — her first victory of the week over a seeded player and the kind of result that moves a ranking rather than merely protects it. Next is France’s Elsa Jacquemot, a former world No. 53 who sat at No. 101 in August and represents a clear step up again.
“I haven’t played her before, so I don’t know too much about her,” Dudeney said. “But hopefully I can go out and play how I’ve been playing again.”
Burrage’s statement, Klugman’s statement of intent
If Dudeney’s win was the longest, Burrage’s was the loudest. A former world No. 85 who has spent the best part of two years dealing with wrist and ankle surgery and who did not play a tour match between September 2025 and this April, Burrage came into the week ranked outside the world’s top 600. She beat Noha Noha Akugue — No. 127, and the No. 4 seed — 6-1 7-6, taking the second-set tie-break 11-9 after saving two set points.
That is a scalp worth more than its ranking points. Burrage’s comeback has been measured in small increments all season; beating a top-130 player from a set and a break point down is evidence the level has survived the surgeries. She faces Spain’s Marina Bassols Ribera, the fifth seed and world No. 130, who needed three sets and a 0-6 second-set wobble to get past Australia’s Lizette Cabrera.
Klugman’s day was the most straightforward. The 17-year-old, who reached the French Open junior girls’ final in 2025 and climbed to a career-high No. 337 last month, beat Czech player Siskova — ranked 172 — 6-2 6-4 without ever appearing troubled. Her reward is the toughest draw of the three: sixth seed Rebecca Sramkova, a former top-40 player who dropped only five games in beating Italy’s Noemi Basiletti.
Why a W100 in Wrexham matters
This tournament has a short history and an unusually good hit rate. Marketa Vondrousova won it in 2022, a year before lifting the Wimbledon title. Viktorija Golubic took the 2023 edition. Sonay Kartal won in 2024 before her breakthrough grass-court summer, and last year produced an all-British final in which Wales’ Mimi Xu beat Mika Stojsavljevic 6-3 7-5. Xu has not returned to defend the title, choosing to play in Canada instead.
For players ranked between 100 and 350, late-October indoor W100s are where next season gets decided — ranking points banked now determine who qualifies directly for Australian Open qualifying and who spends January chasing wildcards. That is the real stake for Dudeney, Burrage and Klugman, more than the trophy itself.
The draw has also opened up. Top seed Anna Blinkova, the world No. 72, was beaten 6-3 6-2 in the second round by the Netherlands’ Suzan Lamens, who now meets American Dalayna Hewitt.
Friday’s quarter-finals begin at 10:30am:
- Alicia Dudeney (GBR) v Elsa Jacquemot (FRA)
- Jodie Burrage (GBR) v Marina Bassols Ribera (ESP, 5)
- Hannah Klugman (GBR) v Rebecca Sramkova (SVK, 6)
- Suzan Lamens (NED) v Dalayna Hewitt (USA)
Three of the four are British. With the top seed gone and Xu’s title vacant, a second successive home champion in Wrexham is a realistic outcome rather than a hopeful one.
**Sources:** [Wrexham.com](https://wrexham.com/news/trio-of-british-players-secure-place-in-lexus-wrexham-open-quarter-finals-301159.html) · [North Wales Pioneer](https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/sport/26662450.top-trio-brits-reach-last-eight-lexus-wrexham-open/) · [LTA](https://www.lta.org.uk/fan-zone/international/lexus-wrexham-open/news/2026/results-and-live-updates/) · [Yahoo Sports](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/uks-largest-indoor-tennis-event-170323903.html) · [ITF](https://www.itftennis.com/en/news-and-media/articles/18-year-old-xu-wins-w100-wrexham/) · [Wikipedia: Jodie Burrage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodie_Burrage)
Two notes on the facts, since the brief didn’t carry them: I verified the story is real (W100 Wrexham, 18–25 Oct 2026) before writing. Burrage’s exact current ranking is inconsistent across sources (739 in August, ~622 in October), so I wrote “outside the world’s top 600” rather than a hard number — swap in the precise figure if your desk has it. Article body is 744 words.
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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