DANIEL Cox has enjoyed some good days at Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club, but possibly none better than yesterday.

The 31-year-old from Lincoln followed up his truncated victory over fourth seed Geoffrey Blancaneaux of France with a win over Switzerland’s Antoine Bellier in the Ilkley Trophy.

Blancaneaux retired at the start of the second set tie-break on Sunday, having won the first set 6-3, but world No.554 Cox needed no helping hand in downing 25-year-old Bellier, ranked 247 places higher, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

These two victories have put 5ft 7in Cox into the main draw of the $125,000 ATP Challenger Tour event, where he will face fellow British wild card qualifier Charles Broom.

“I am really proud of that performance,” admitted Cox, who reached the quarter-finals at Ilkley when it was just a $10,000 Futures event in both 2012 and 2013.

“I played some really good tennis at the right times. I had a bit of a sloppy game at the end of the second set - I don’t really know what happened as I had not struggled on my serve up until then.

“But I lost the first two points with pretty stupid mistakes, and then the wind and the sun came out at 0-30, so they were pretty tricky conditions.”

Cox said of 6ft 5in left-hander Bellier: “I knew that he is big guy, left handed, which is always difficult on grass, and that he is a serve volleyer.

“But one of my favourite things is trying to challenge myself on the return and I picked him off well and read his fast ones.

“Last week when I played at Nottingham (and reached the last 16) helped, and one of my main attributes is my movement on grass, and I feel very comfortable on it.

“In the end, I forced him to play harder and he made some errors, but I had no real expectations coming here because it is such a good field, and it is great to be part of it and I love playing here - it is a great club.

“It was already nice before, but it is incredible now and the members are always interested in the tennis, which is nice.

“It was nice to play in front of a crowd, and they were a big part of it, they really helped me, and the courts are in great condition.”

Broom, 24, followed up his win over former world No.6 Gilles Simon with a 7-6 (11-9), 6-4 victory over Jason Jung of Chinese Taipei to earn his meeting against Cox.

Hertfordshire’s Broom said: “I played some of the big points really well and I think that’s what swung the match.

“I had spells where I played really well, spells where I thought that he played a bit better, and I was up pretty big in the second set and had a chance.

“Then he found a bit of rhythm and momentum so I felt like I did really well to steady the ship, keep my head a bit, and I played a really good game at 5-4, but I probably took the long way round to get there.”

Some first-round matches were played yesterday among the men, but there was no win for British wild card Arthur Fery, who went out 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 after a battle to France’s Constant Lestienne.

Three British women qualified for the $100,000 ITF Women’s World Tour event - Scots Maia Lumsden and Anna Brogan and Londoner Ranah Akua Stoiber.

Lumsden knocked out Poland’s Urszula Radwanska - sister of former Wimbedon runner-up Agnieszka - 4-6, 6-2, 10-7, while Brogan defeated seventh seed Elvina Kalieva (United States) 6-4, 2-6, 10-8.

Glaswegian Lumsden was a break up in the first set but lost it, admitting: “I started off quite well and then played not so great for a few games at the end of the set.

“But then I came back and was playing better in the second set, and in the tie-break I had to play some good points at crucial moments to get through.”

Lumsden now faces Switzerland’s Simona Waltert, while Brogan meets third seed Katie Volynets (United States).

British junior national champion Mingge Xu, who is just 14, is up against Belgium’s experienced Yanina Wickmayer, while Surbiton semi-finalist Jodie Burrage plays Australia’s Arina Rodionova.

Fellow British wild cards Sonay Kartal and Yuriko Lily Miyazaki meet Arianne Hartono (Netherlands) and second seed Kristina Mladenovic (France) respectively.

Stoiber’s reward for a battling 6-7(4-7), 6-4, 10-6 victory over Leeds-born Naiktha Bains is a first-round match against Jamie Loeb (United States).

The 17-year-old Stoiber said: “It was a pretty tough match. I had to battle hard.

“I lost the first set. I was up the whole time but she broke me and she was sticking it in. I came into the second set knowing that I had to get ahead of her.

“I won that, still battling it out, and then in the tie-break I just stuck my head in and was like ‘I gotta do this’. I wanted it so bad so I just gave it my all and the outcome was mine.”

Already through in the men’s draw are wild cards Felix Gill and Aidan McHugh, who face fourth seed John Millman (Australia) and Vasek Pospisil (Canada) respectively.