THE top three female British tennis players are heading to Jersey for next week’s Caversham International $25,000 ladies’ tournament at Les Ormes which runs along with a $10,000 men’s event.

Katie O’Brien , currently world ranked 124, is the GB number one and reached the semi-final of the Island’s $25,000 tournament in October. She is seeded second with Estonia’s Maret Ani, ranked 122, edging her out of the top spot.

Anne Keothavong and Elena Baltacha, Britain’s number two and three, gain the third and fourth seedings, respectively, while among the other seeded players are Brits, Sarah Borwell and Anna Smith.

‘We’ve never had the top three British players over at the same time, that’s almost unheard of as they normally split them up – the quality of the entries is undeniable in both the ladies’ and men’s competitions,’ said tournament organiser Hugh Raymond.

The ladies’ tournament has attracted players from France, South Africa, Croatia and Lithuania in the main draw, and there are also players from America, the Czech Republic and Nigeria aiming to qualify.

Three British players are seeded for the men’s event – Joshua Goodall (seeded 5), Alexander Slabinsky (9) and Miles Kasiri (14).

France’s Thomas Oger, world ranked 273, gains the top seed while the winner of the men’s $15,000 Les Ormes event in October, Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen, returns as does his conquest in that final, Poland’s Dawid Olejniczak – the two taking the third and second seeds respectively.

Exciting prospect, Jerzy Janowicz, from Poland will have to come through qualifying but should be able to put his experience from reaching the junior final at last year’s US Open, also played on hard courts, to good use here.

Raymond added: ‘I can’t believe how popular these tournaments have been. We have a long list of players waiting to get into the ladies’ event and I think we may have to turn people away.

‘A lot of players are bringing family and we’ve also got some top LTA officials coming over so it’s going to be very busy but it’s great for the Island and for tennis.

‘Jersey players hoping to enter qualifying include Sarah Jones, Andrew Evans, and Jonathan Howell and we will do our best to get them in but we will just have to see how many sign on.’

Many of the LTA officials will assess Jersey’s preparations for the ATP men’s competition, which is set to be at least a $50,000 event that will attract higher ranked players, in November at Les Ormes – a first for the Island.

Qualifying for the men begins on Sunday and the main draw gets under way on Tuesday. The ladies qualify on Monday and the first matches of their main draw will start on Wednesday. Matches will start from 9 am.