HEMINGFORD Grey tennis sensation Kira Reuter starred for Great Britain in her first European tennis event in Paris between Christmas and New Year.

Reuter, who is 11, flew to the French capital with three other young players for the Tennis Europe 12-and-under tournament – the Open des 10-12 du TCB – accompanied by Lawn Tennis Association talent and performance manager for the Midlands, Andy Barnes, and LTA junior coach Hollie Bambridge.

Reuter, pictured, who attends Hemingford Grey Primary School, spent Christmas week training with the 12-and-under national squad at Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre in Buckinghamshire before jetting off to Paris on Boxing Day.

Her father, Vernon Reuter, told The Hunts Post: “The Paris tournament is one of the most popular of the year with competitors from 18 different countries across Europe involved. It’s played on slow red clay courts in a double skin dome to best of three sets.”

Reuter, who is a member of Hemingford Tennis Club, trains four afternoons a week at the LTA High Performance Centre at Hills Road in Cambridge, and she was the top performing British player at the tournament winning through three rounds, beating Theana Pavy of France 6-0 6-0, Claire Dona, also from France, 6-1 7-6, and Natalia Nikolopoulou from Greece 6-1 6-0. However, she eventually lost a very tough match in the quarter finals to No1 seed Natalia Boltinskaya from Russia 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

“That was a great effort from Kira, she had the Russian rattled and she never gave up,” said Barnes. “It’s been a great tournament for her – she’s grown in confidence through the week and can use this as a spring board to other European events.”