NUNTHORPE tennis ace Sarah Borwell has her sights set on the top ten of the British order of merit as she continues her meteoric rise up the rankings.

Now based in Las Vegas, the 24-year-old has risen to 16th position in the British rankings from a world ranking of 716 at the end of 2002.

She picked up valuable ranking points in Mexico in November and, after intensive work in Nevada and a ten-day visit home for Christmas, she will play in two $10,000 events in Florida.

The next tournament she hopes to qualify for is the high value event at Fullerton in California.

Seasoned campaigners Rachel Viollet of Lancashire and Joanne Moore (Warwickshire) have both been tournament regulars in the United States for some time.

They have rankings of ninth and tenth in Britain respectively and, more significantly, 415 and 439 in the world, due largely to competing mostly in America.

Sarah has already exceeded the achievements of Durham and Cleveland county colleague Rachel McArdle, who reached a British ranking in the twenties through a base in Florida.

But she has a long way to go to reach the high position reached by Joanne Ward, another county colleague, who reached fifth spot a few years ago.

During her Christmas break, Sarah helped to coach up and coming young players at Tennis World in Middlesbrough.

She is pictured above with, from left, Sunnie Love, Charlotte Proctor and Lucy Spence.