Tennis: Emily Fanning cracks top fifty

Emily Fanning in action at the Australian Open. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand's No 1 tennis junior Emily Fanning has cracked into the top 50 juniors in the world after reaching the semifinals of the Grade 1 ITF Junior Events on Clay in Germany recently.

Fanning, seeded 14th in the draw, won three set battles in the round of 16 and quarter-finals.

Fanning lost to Adrijana Lekaj of Croatia in a see-saw semifinal; the 17-year-old Kiwi lost 6-1 0-6 1-6.

Fanning and partner Storm Saunders (AUS) reached the doubles quarter-final before going down to Mai El Jamash (EGY) and Victoria Rodriguez (MEX) 1-6 6-4 [7-10].

Despite the losses, Fanning who had a previous career-high ranking of 50, now moves to 43 in the world for juniors.

Fellow Kiwi Cameron Norrie also reached the doubles quarter-finals at the same event.

Partnering up with Australian Harry Bourchier the pair reached the quarter-finals before suffering a 4-6 3-6 loss to Christian Garin (CHI) and Jorge Panta Herrreros (PER).

The Kiwi juniors now focus on the lead in events on grass prior to Wimbledon playing in the Grade 2 ITF in Germany and the Grade 1 ITF in Roehampton before heading to Wimbledon Juniors.

Fanning is a direct entry into Wimbledon main draw with Norrie currently 10 places out of qualifying.

Meanwhile, New Zealand tennis No 1 Marina Erakovic has lost her opening round match early this morning (NZT) at the WTA Eastbourne Championships.

Erakovic lost 5-7 1-6 to Tamira Paszek of Austria.

The Kiwi is yet to play her first round doubles match.

Erakovic and partner Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) face world number two pairing Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond (USA) in the opening round.

It's a rematch of last year's Wimbledon quarter-final where Tanasurgarn and Erakovic upset the highly ranked duo 13-10 in the third set super-tiebreak.

The doubles match is scheduled for overnight, Wednesday morning NZ time.