Elena Baltacha is sure she can build on her home run

Elena Baltacha won her biggest title on home soil as she defeated Petra Cetkowska 7-5, 6-3 in the final of the AEGON Challenge in Nottingham and send a clear message to Heather Watson, the only other British woman in the top 100.

Baltacha now heads to the AEGON International in Eastbourne having secured her second ITF £100,000 title of her career and can further improve her ranking with a good run at Wimbledon where she crashed out in the first round last year to Petra Marti after leading by a set and 5-2.

Baltacha, who will face France's Aravane Rezai in the first round in Eastbourne, reached a career high ranking of No49 in September 2010. She is now No74 in the world but was expected to rise to around No65 when the rankings were published after the final of the AEGON Classic at Edgbaston between Sabine Lisicki and Daniela Hantuchova later today.

Watson, meanwhile, is enjoying her best ranking at No93 and was due to stay there in the new standings. The 19-year-old wants to make the most of her good form and has Baltacha in her sights which makes this one of the most interesting periods of the year for British women's tennis.

Baltacha, whose match against Czech Cetkowska yesterday was moved indoors because of rain, said: "It's great to win a title this big, especially playing at home. It makes it even more special.

"In the first set, we both started a bit hit-and-miss, probably because we hadn't hit indoors. By the end of the first set, I felt like I was dominating. It was me getting things going. Once I won that set, I think I lifted. I felt very confident to push on and I relaxed and I thought, 'Okay, I can really go for it now.'

"This is everything I could have hoped for from this week. I've had enough preparation on the grass going into Eastbourne and my form has been solid all week.

"I couldn't ask for more going into Eastbourne and Wimbledon."