Angelique is Shrewsbury's First Grand Slammer

She may have got no further than the quarter finals in the 2009 Aegon GB Pro-Series tournament at The Shrewsbury Club - but German ace Angelique Kerber has now become the first player to have graced our Club courts and go on to win a Grand Slam. Kerber, 28, enjoyed a brilliant victory over world number one Serena Williams in Saturday's Australian Open final in Melbourne, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, becoming the first German since Steffi Graf in 1999 to win a Grand Slam.

Dave Courteen, the managing director at The Shrewsbury Club, said Kerber's stunning success again underlined the quality of the players local tennis fans are able to enjoy watching when the Aegon tournaments are held in Shropshire's county town.

"We were delighted to see Angelique Kerber win in Melbourne," he added. "We've been getting closer to a player who has played in one of the tournaments at The Shrewsbury Club winning a Grand Slam and now it's finally happened so we are very pleased.

"We always look forward to hosting the Aegon tournaments and the quality of tennis is so high with many stars of the future, like Angelique was at the time, playing on our courts.

"You never know who you might see play in one of these tournaments and they really are exciting events for local tennis fans, particularly as admission throughout the week is free."

Kerber reached the last eight on her appearance at The Shrewsbury Club in 2009, losing in three sets to Brit Katie O'Brien, after earlier enjoying victories over Tara Moore, another Brit, and Italian Giulia Gatto-Monticone.

Professional tennis returns to The Shrewsbury Club this month when we host the $10,000 men's Aegon Pro-Series event. Qualifying starts on Sunday, February 14  with the final to be played on Saturday, February 20.

Last year's champion, French teenager Quentin Halys, recently reached the second round of the Australian Open, bowing out to world number one Novak Djokovic.