TENNIS ace Elizabeth Thomas has seen her Wimbledon dream come to an end – but the Blackburn-born star left the qualifying venue with her head held high.

The 24-year-old British number 12 almost almost caused the upset of the first qualifying round as she came close to toppling American second seed Varvara Lepchenko at the Bank of England Sports Club.

However, the former Clitheroe Grammar School pupil couldn’t find the cutting edge to take down the world number 102 and slipped to a 7-5, 6-4 defeat in Roehampton.

But Thomas, who lives in Langho, insisted on looking on the positive side of her performance after running a player ranked 474 places above her in the global listings so close.

“I knew it was going to be a tough game,” admitted the world number 576. “She’s 100 in the world and she’s the highest ranked player I’ve played against in any competition.

“I knew I would have to play to the best of my potential to even get close to her but I played well and served well and I felt I was really in the game. Unfortunately I just couldn’t keep that level up in the end.

“But I’m really pleased that I’ve managed to play so well and I’m sure she’s pretty relieved to get through the match.”

Thomas had to come through a gruelling three-match pre-qualifying event to put her name in the hat for the draw in Roehampton after a first qualifying round exit at the AEGON Trophy in Nottingham.

And despite missing out on a trip to the All England Club, Thomas – who trains at the Bolton Arena – insists this is far from the end of her grass-court season.

“I’ll go back to the lower level tournaments after that but I’ll probably stay on the grass for as long as I can.

“I’ll be going to Felixstowe in a couple of weeks for the $10k event so I’ll see what happens then.”

Thomas, East Lancashire’s leading tennis player, has come a long way since she first grabbed a tennis racquet at Langho’s St Leonards Primary School as a six-year-old.

During her junior years, she won the singles and doubles Lancashire titles in every age group, and continued her silverware collection on the county scene at senior level.

Her breakthrough into the professional ranks followed in 2002, after clinching the prestigious Sunday Telegraph U18 Grand Prix title in La Manga, Spain.

l Life assurance and pensions company AEGON is lead partner of British Tennis and is backing the sport at all levels, from grass roots to world class tennis events. For tickets and further information visit www.lta.org.uk