RYAN PENISTON marched into the UK Pro Classic final and hailed the role of his coach as pivotal to his success.

The Great Wakering based star held his nerve to topple Dan Cox 10-7 in a super tie-break on Saturday and had to do things the hard way in Weybridge, coming from behind to book a clash against Liam Broady in the final.

Peniston has been working closely with coach, Rob Carter, and believes his influence has been fundamental in propelling him to the cusp of Pro Series glory.

“He’s had loads [of influence] - we’ve done some work together and are good friends and we’ve known each other since we were young,” the 24-year-old said.

“He’s really helped me and his tennis knowledge is second to none, so a lot of credit goes to him this week, for sure.

“Since he stopped playing we've done some work on the court. He’s a character that I get on very well with - I enjoy someone that’s quite relaxed on the court and he definitely is that.

“Our personalities mesh well and his technical and tactical knowledge is amazing.

“We’ve been a really good team this week and it would be great to top it off with a win.

“I’m definitely buzzing to come through that - that was a battle from the first point.

“I managed to get a lead in the first set but he didn’t give me anything and made me work for it.

“I always believe that I can win even if I’m a set down, but it was tough with the way that Dan plays - he doesn’t really give you any cheap points whatsoever and you have to work for it and every point.”

Peniston is one of 24 leading players at the widely-billed Premier League of tennis alongside Naomi Broady and Eden Silva in the women’s draw and James Ward and Broady in the men’s.

The innovative format was devised by Andy Murray’s coach, Jamie Delgado, with players on Classic Week being split into two boxes of six ahead of finals weekend on August 15th and 16th.

Peniston lost the first set 7-5 against Cox but showed all his steely resilience to level the scores, winning the second 6-0 and then delivering a clutch display in the tie-break.

It’s now a straight shoot-out between him and Broady for the inaugural UK Pro Classic trophy, with six weeks of gruelling tennis coming to a head on Sunday.

Peniston and Broady know each other’s games like the backs of their hands but the Essex star hopes he’ll be the one celebrating come the end of the weekend.

“I’ve played Liam three times in the last three weeks so we know each other’s games well!” he added.

“We play kind of similar, so it’s going to be a battle and every time we’ve played it’s been a battle, so I’m looking forward to it.

“It would be amazing [if I was to win], especially to be given a wildcard into this in the first place, so to come away with the first prize would be unreal.”

>12 of the UK’s top women and men have qualified through the UK Pro Series for the UK Pro Classic - www.ukproseries.com.

The competition will be available for free on LIVENow, Eurosport Player and will have national free to air coverage via FreeSports.