New Malden tennis prospect Jasmine Amber Asghar, pictured, has set herself a target of reaching the top 500 on the WTA world rankings by the end of the year.

The 17-year-old’s pre-Wimbledon campaign stuttered at the $50,000 Surbiton Trophy last week, where – after victories over fellow Brits Zainab Williams (6-1 6-1) and Megan Rogers (7-5 6-4) – she lost to Australia’s Naiktha Bains in straight sets (6-3 6-1) in the final qualifying round.

But world number 1,211 Amber Asghar, who reached the second qualifying round of the AEGON Eastbourne Trophy a couple of weeks ago, is still thinking positively despite failing to land an LTA wildcard play-off slot for Wimbledon’s qualifying tournament in Roehampton next week.

“I didn’t really expect much because it was a $50k event, so there is a lot of good players here,” she said.

“But overall I think I played really well.

“I’m starting from the bottom and working my way up.

“By next year I want to be at least top 500 and then work my way up from there.

“After this week I’ve played really well.

“I have loved it here because they’ve got good courts and I used to come here when I was younger.”