Baltacha is currently ranked at a career-high 89 by the WTA

Elena Baltacha is close to regaining the British number one spot after reaching the quarter-finals of the Dunlop World Challenge in Japan.

The number three seed beat So-Jung Kim of South Korea 6-4, 6-3 to set up a match with Japan's Tomoko Yonemura in the last eight of the $75,000 event.

Baltacha, who now lives in Suffolk, is set to rise above Katie O'Brien in the WTA rankings next week.

She broke into the world's top 100 for the first time in September.

If Baltacha does move above O'Brien in the world rankings she would become official British number one on Friday, 4 December.

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