HALESOWEN'S Jordanne Whiley completed a sensational return to international competition with victory at the inaugural Wrexham Indoor Wheelchair Tennis Tournament.

The 10-time Grand Slam champion beat world number nine Katharina Kruger of Germany 6-2, 6-4 in the final last Sunday.

Whiley completed a memorable day at Wrexham Tennis Centre by also adding the women’s doubles title with American partner Dana Mathewson.

The former world number three and four-time Wimbledon doubles champion, playing her first international event since Wimbledon 2017 and since becoming a mum for the first time in January 2018, beat three of the top five seeds on her way to Sunday’s singles final against top seed Kruger.

Whiley, who became National champion for the fifth time in December in her first event since the birth of son Jackson, secured an immediate double break for a 3-0 lead in the final to settle any potential nerves. She then took the last two games of both sets to clinch her latest title after an hour and 27 minutes.

The 2014 US Open women’s singles champion will now be one of the top Brits taking on another strong international field at the Bolton Indoor event this week.

She said “Of course I’m not currently ranked and a lot depended on the draw here, but I’ve certainly exceeded my expectations. I guess I knew I could win it, but I’ve been training better than I played for some of this week so there’s plenty to work on. But I’ve made massive progress with my net play and returns.”

After her singles victory, Whiley paired up with Mathewson to beat the top seeds, Britain’s Louise Hunt and Michaela Spaanstra of the Netherlands, 6-3, 6-3 in the women’s doubles final.

“I was probably more nervous for my (singles) second round against Dana than I was today, because I know that in the past we’ve had really strong matches and Dana really challenges me. So it was nice to be on the same side of the net today for the doubles. While Dana’s based in the UK we train together, too, and this was our debut together in doubles ahead of Bolton."

International wheelchair tennis will return to Wrexham in October for the newly renamed British Futures tournament, which will fall within the year-long wheelchair tennis qualification window for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.