KIDDERMINSTER tennis ace Lewis Barnes is set to turn professional after winning the International Tennis Federation tournament in Edinburgh.

The 16-year-old from Torton has accepted an invitation from LTA director of performance Jeremy Bates to move to the National Training Centre at Queens Club.

He will join Britain's elite post-16 players for top class coaching before transferring to the new £38million centre at Roehampton which opens in January next year

Barnes, who is 6ft 4ins with a 120mph serve, has been based full-time at the LTA tennis academy at Loughborough University for the past four years.

He is ranked around 500th in the world for under-18s and has targeted a place in the World Junior top 10 by the time he is 18.

Barnes's success at the ITF tournament confirms the growing reputation of the teenager who is sponsored by Fred Perry and Wilson.

Despite being unseeded for the competition and giving away a two-year age advantage to many of his opponents, Barnes beat the number two and six seeds en-route to the final.

There he overcame the number one seed and British under-18 number one Graeme Dyce 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to clinch the title.

His Australian coach, Mark Taylor, said: "Lewis showed a real hunger for the match and that was the real difference when the going got tough, he was very gutsy."

Barnes hopes to boost his current ranking at forthcoming ITF tournaments in Slovenia and Holland before competing for the British National under-16s title in Bournemouth.

He will then complete his summer tournament programme when he returns home hoping to add to his 17 county titles at the Herefordshire and Worcestershire County Closed competition.

Meanwhile, Kidderminster Tennis Club have hailed their recent open day an overwhelming success after 10 new members signed up.

It attracted players of all ages with club coach Jo Merrision running mini-tennis sessions and Hagley Sports Shop demonstrating a range of racquets.