Johnson’s season off to promising start

Tuesday 16th September 2008, 2:29PM BST.

ELENA JOHNSON has had a highly encouraging start to the season in reaching the Hertfordshire Open final.

Although the Sarnian missed out on the title, which was claimed by the national number 11 ranked player Kelly Mead, she took the positives from her weekend’s work at Hertfordshire University in Hatfield.

‘I’m pleased with finishing runner-up in the first tournament of the season,’ Johnson (pictured) said. ‘I started off the tournament well with wins over Lizzie Rumble from Essex and my former University of Birmingham teammate Jenny Buckly.’

Johnson was scheduled to meet third seed Reshmi Ouseph in the semi-finals, but the latter was knocked out by England under-19 international Helena Lewcinska.