YORK teenager Angus Bradshaw rocketed 58 places in the national under-18s tennis rankings with victory in the Winter National Tour tournament.

Already ranked number one for his age group in the county, the 17-year-old Heworth ace is now 14th in the Lawn Tennis Association national standings.

Bradshaw was awarded a qualifying place in the tournament at Gosling Tennis Club, emerging through a round robin competition to win a further five matches en route to the final.

In the round robin section, Bradshaw beat Edward Hubner 6-2 6-2 and Henry Beesley 6-2 6-3, to book a last 32 place against Adam Jones, who was despatched 6-4 6-1.

In the last 16, the York youngster was a 6-1 6-4 victory over Joe Tyler, while Lamar Bartley posed a greater challenge in the quarter-finals as Bradshaw dropped his first set in a 6-3 6-7 6-4 win.

A 7-5 6-2 semi-final triumph over Nicholas Nugent set up a final clash with James Davis and Bradshaw won in three sets, 6-4 3-6 6-2.

In addition to climbing from 72 to number 14 in the age group rankings, Bradshaw also gets the opportunity to compete at a grade one event at the National Tennis Centre in February, to which only 16 players are invited.

Janet Bradshaw, Angus' mum, said: "Angus was 17 last month and has been playing tennis since he was about four.

"At first he played with his father and then over the years he has travelled further and further afield for both coaching and practice. He has continued to play in the local men's league, mainly for Fulford.

"Two years ago, Angus was offered a tennis scholarship at Millfield School in Somerset. Millfield has an incredible reputation for sport and most of their coaches have competed at national level themselves.

"He was at Archbishop Holgate's School in York and was about to embark on his GCSE years.

"We were going to find in increasingly difficult to keep up with training and practice if he was going to have any hope of keeping up with his tennis.

"The only local coaching he had was an hour lesson once a week at David Lloyd in York, the rest was in Leeds and Bolton.

"So, with four days notice, Angus left York and joined Millfield School, where he was able to continue with his education and train both on and off the court for about 14 hours a week. Straight away he settled in."

Bradshaw has featured for Yorkshire in the County Cup at U18 level, which also competing at junior level and on the British Tour.

Now tennis captain at Millfield School, Bradshaw was part of the Year 10 National Schools compettion winning team.