BASINGSTOKE tennis star Josh Goodall lived up to his Wimbledon vow of reducing his singles ranking by winning his first tournament of the season at Ilkley last week.

The 25-year-old was determined to make his recent fitness regime pay off and it duly did on the courts in Yorkshire as he beat British number eight and second seed David Rice 7-5, 6-1 in the final.

The Basingstoke-born player, currently ranked 437 in the world, was seeded four for the event and beat Italian Enrico Iannuzzi 6-3, 7-6 and British qualifier Tom Farquharson 7-5, 6-4 in the early rounds.

In the last eight he saw off another Brit, Marcus Willis. Despite losing the first set tie break 7-3, the Hampshire player hit back, winning the next two sets 6-4, 6-1.

That set up a semi-final clash with number six seed, Frenchman Albano Olivetti, and once again Goodall won the hard way 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

After that, the all British final went the way of the Basingstoke player in straight sets.

Goodall nearly picked up another doubles title at the same event, but he and partner Chris Eaton were beaten in the final by Rice and Sean Thornley, 10-7 in the deciding tie-break.

To reach that stage of the competition, Goodall and Eaton beat the newly crowned Wimbledon Boys doubles winners George Morgan and Mate Pavic in the semi-final 6-3, 7-6.

This was after they beat Kyle Edmund and Toby Martin and the Farquharson brothers Alexander and Tom in the opening two rounds of the competition.