Perry lasts the pace to claim maiden tour title

The Kenilworth rising star was seeded two and eased past South African Cheyna Tucker 11-9, 12-10, 11-4 in the first round, followed by a quarter-final victory over fellow former England junior Julianne Courtice (11-7, 11-7, 14-12).

Perry’s semi-final opponent was Laura Hill from nearby Belper, who had won all of their previous encounters.

Hill started the better of the two, and won the first game without too much fuss.

However, Perry changed her tactics and took control of the T to claim an 8-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-6 success.

The final pitted Perry against Tania Bailey, double medalist at the Commonwealth Games, and former world number four and England captain.

Bailey had shaded their recent match at the London Open and drew on her experience to win the first game.

The second was punctuated by a series of lets, with Perry prevailing and the see-saw nature of the match continued, with Bailey winning the third and reaching match ball in the fourth, only for her younger opponent to fight back.

Perry duly took the fourth 12-10 and was 8-5 ahead in the fifth before Bailey retired with a recurrence of a knee injury.

After the match Perry confessed it was not how she would have wanted to win her first WISPA event.

“It was clear from the start of the fifth that Tania was struggling, and unfortunately after 75 minutes of play she was forced to retire with a knee injury when I was leading 8-5,” said Perry.

“I sincerely hope that Tania makes a speedy recovery.

“Obviously this is not how I would have liked to have won my first title, but hopefully it will be the first of many.

“Now I am going to have a week off before getting in some good training for a month. My next block of tournaments will start with the Edinburgh Open at the end of January.”

Perry is now 83rd in the world rankings, with the 21-year-old promising an assault on the top 20 within the next two years and also targeting a place in the England squad for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.