By Ros Satar
- Britwatch assesses the 2023 season of the Top Ten WTA Brits with a standout year for Katie Boulter.
LONDON, ENGLAND – The 2023 season is in the books, and we assess how the British women performed, as a new season looms ever closer.
Life on the WTA tour continued to be challenging for former British No. 1 Emma Raducanu. What had looked like a promising start to the year saw another round if injury woes and eventually resulted in wrist and ankle surgery and a very premature end to the season.
But it opened up the door for the players behind her to shine and continue to grow on the tour.
1) Katie Boulter
Start of season ranking: 136
End of season ranking: 56
After a strong start in ITF Canberra and a couple of other wins at that level through the yer, we had to wait until the grass court summer for a maiden WTA title, when Katie Boulter defeated Jodie Burrage in the Nottingham final.
While that win did not translate in Birmingham and Eastbourne, a third round showing at both Wimbledon and the US Open helped put Boulter back up the rankings, rounding out the year with winning turns at the Billie Jean King Cup play-offs to help secure Great Britain’s spot in the April qualifiers.
Season highlights:
- ITF Canberra: Title
- ITF Gifu: Final
- ITF Fukuoka: Semi-final
- ITF Surbiton: Semi-final
- WTA Nottingham: Title
2) Jodie Burrage
Start of season ranking: 131
End of season ranking: 98
Jodie Burrage’s path through the year took a very similar path to that of Katie Boulter. She was defeated in the ITF Canberra final and lost again to her compatriot in the Nottingham final.
She backed that up with a couple of WTA level quarter-finals, and also had some success on the ITF levels, but in making her Billie Jean King cup debut, it was rather a baptism of fire, with a 4-1 lead evaporating to a straight sets loss, with Burrage dropped in favour of the more experienced Harriet Dart to get Team GB over the line.
But there is plenty for her to build on as she has gained direct access into the Australian Open, and a good start to the year should give her a good foundation.
Season highlights:
- ITF Canberra: Final
- ITF Croissy-Beaubourg: Title
- WTA Nottingham: Final
- ITF: Vitoria-Gasteiz: Quarter-final
- WTA Stanford: Quarter-final
3) Harriet Dart
Start of season ranking: 98
End of season ranking: 121
After enjoying a breakout season, it was a bit more of a bumpy ride for Harriet Dart, who found herself slipping down the rankings by the end of the year. She flourished more on the grass court season with two quarter-finals but enjoyed more success on the ITF this year.
However, she did crown the season with Team GB Billie Jean King Cup heroics.
Season Highlights:
- ITF Murska Sobota: Quarter-final
- ITF Calvi: Quarter-final
- ITF Nottingham: Title
- WTA Nottingham: Quarter-final
- WTA Birmingham: Quarter-final
- ITF Quinta do Lago: Final
- ITF Glasgow: Semi-final
- ITF Takasaki: Final
4) Heather Watson
Start of season rankings: 139
End of season ranking: 137
With a decent enough mix of ITF and WTA quarter-finals, it is perhaps a little disappointing that Heather Watson has not made much headway in 2023.
With only one main draw entry in the slams for Wimbledon, she failed to get past the opening qualifying round for all three of the other Slams but found some leeway on the lower tier WTA tournaments but will need to qualify for the Australian Open to start her year.
Season Highlights:
- ITF Canberra: Quarter-final
- WTA Hua Hin: Quarter-final
- ITF Glasgow: Final
- ITF Calvi: Final
- WTA Nottingham: Semi-final
- WTA Warsaw: Quarter-final
- ITF Quinta do Lago: Quarter-final
- WTA Andorra: Semi-final
- ITF Dubai: Semi-final
5) Lily Miyazaki
Start of season ranking: 186
End of season ranking: 170
A new hopeful made her mark on the tours – as Lily Miyazaki made a mark at the US Open briefly exciting everyone as she came through qualifying to win a couple of rounds.
She has had decent runs throughout the year at the ITF level and like many of her compatriots made a confident start to the year at ITF Canberra.
Season Highlights:
- ITF Surbiton: Semi-final
- ITF Figueira Da Foz: Quarter-final
- ITF Roehampton: Semi-final
- ITF Glasgow: Quarter-final
- ITF Nantes: Quarter-final
- ITF Takasaki: Semi-final
- ITF Yokohama: Quarter-final
6) Sonay Kartal
Start of season ranking: 207
End of season ranking: 244
While Sonay Kartal has enjoyed quite a bit of success on the ITF circuit, there has been very little success out on the main tour, and as such, her ranking slid a little over the course of the year.
Season Highlights:
- ITF Sunderland: Quarter-final
- ITF Glasgow: Semi-final
- ITF Trnava 2: Quarter-final
- ITF Santa Marghertia Di Pula: Title
- ITF Santa Marghertia Di Pula 3: Semi-final
- ITF Platja D’Aro: Semi-final
- ITF Ilkley: Semi-final
- ITF Leiria: Title
- ITF Caldas da Rainha: Quarter-final
7) Katie Swan
Start of season ranking: 145
End of season ranking: 278
Despite starting the year with a couple of wins for Great Britain at the United Cup, it has been a lean year for Katie Swan with a couple of high finishes in UK based ITF tournaments.
Season Highlights:
- ITF Surbiton: Final
- ITF Sunderland 2: Semi-final
8) Francesca Jones
Start of season ranking: 9999
End of season ranking: 296
After a disastrous 2022, where Francesca Jones suffered an endless stream of injuries starting with a retirement at the Australian Open with an elbow issue, then suffered a fractured foot and a nerve injury that seemed to baffle doctors.
She was gutted to have to retire at the French Open and suffered more months of setback before returning to the ITF tour at the end of the month.
Season Highlights:
- ITF Tucuman: Quarter-final
- WTA Bogota: Semi-final
- ITF Guayaquil: Final
- ITF Shrewsbury: Quarter-final
9) Emma Raducanu
Start of season ranking: 78
End of season ranking: 298
Emma Raducanu’s frustrating transition into the WTA tour continued. After starting very promisingly in Auckland, a freak injury, rolling her ankle on the court, she had to retire in her season opener, and was out early at the Australian Open.
Her run to the fourth round of Indian Wells looked like things were on the up but shortly after two first round exits at her next tournaments, she announced she was shutting down her season to have two wrist and an ankle operation.
Hopes were further dashed when she pulled out of an end of season exhibition. She had been awarded a wildcard into Auckland.
10) Amarni Banks
Start of season ranking: 501
End of season ranking: 304
It was a decent rise through the ranks for Armarni Banks, playing exclusively on the ITF circuit this year.
Season Highlights:
- ITF Monastir 29: Quarter-final
- ITF Nottingham 7: Final
- ITF Roehampton: Semi-final
- ITF Aldershot: Quarter-final
- ITF Valladolid: Quarter-final
- ITF Leiria: Semi-final
- ITF Shrewsbury: Final
- ITF Ortisei: Quarter-final
- ITF Selva Gardens: Quarter-final
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