Anne Keothavong's battle to reach the Top 100 in women's tennis

Anne Keothavong is hardly a newcomer to the tennis tour. But at the age of 24 she has made great strides over the last 12 months to try and break the into the top WTA 100 rankings.

Finally she has nearly achieved her target. The British No. 1's favourite surface is outdoor hardcourts where she has had most of her success in her career. Ironically it is a clay court tournament that has helped Keothavong reach a new high of 104 in the world, as she tore through the draw to win the $50,000 event in Lebanon.

It was a great week for Anne who's previous results on clay had been nothing more than dismal, but in Lebanon she defeated clay court specialiast Marta Marrero of Spain, a former French Open quarter-finalist and then had an outstanding win over Lourdes Dominguez-Lino of Spain also a clay court player and ranked as high as 40 in the world during her career.

Keothavong, who should break into the top 100 within the next month. is the first Brit since Sam Smith to do so, and hopefully her good form of recent weeks could push the other girls higher in the rankings too.