Willow Kelly, Reille Armstrong in elite field at Australian Claycourt Championships

Willow Kelly and Rielle Armstrong have qualified for next week's 12-and-under Australian Claycourt Championships.

Willow is no stranger to national events.

She finished 14th at the Australian grasscourt title earlier this year and earned automatic entry to the claycourt titles on the back of her high national age group ranking of 19.

Rielle forced her way into the Canberra field by winning the Victorian qualifying event in Melbourne last month.

With one berth up for grabs in a field of 16, Rielle showed great tenacity and skill to win four matches in a row, including a victory over the tournament number one seed.

The 12-year-olds, who are great friends, share their passion for tennis as team-mates for Spring Gully Miss Hits in the Bendigo junior pennant competition.

"It's so much fun to be on the court with your friends and I love competing,'' Willow, who is coached by Terry Smith at Sedgwick and Castlemaine-based Anthony Zafiris, said.

"I train probably five or six days a week."

Reille travels to Macedon to be coached by Scott Vaughan.

"I love the feeling of hitting the ball and it's a challenging sport,'' Reille added.

"I pretty much (have a hit) every day of the week."

Playing on clay brings different skills to the surface.

With no clay courts in Bendigo, Willow has completed some training on clay courts in Melbourne, while Rielle's training base at Macedon has clay courts.

"It's my favourite surface,'' Reille declared with a grin.

"I hate it because I can't slide yet,'' Kelly responded.

Who wins when the dynamic duo play singles matches against each other?

"Willow normally wins, she's good,'' Reille conceded.

"I don't know (about that), you're good, too,'' Willow responded.

No matter what happens in the singles draw, Willow and Rielle will team up for the doubles draw.

It's another stepping stone towards what they hope will be a bright future in the sport.

"If I couldn't be a professional I'd love to go to college (in the United States) and play,'' Willow said.

"I'd love to go to Europe and play,'' Reille said.

The 12-and-under Australian Claycourt Championships run from April 18-24 in Canberra.

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