12 November 2014 | Tennis West

Casey Dellacqua’s impressive 2014 season has been capped with her nomination for the WTA Most Improved Player award.

The Australian, who surged from outside the top 100 to finish the year ranked No.29, has been nominated for the award alongside Eugenie Bouchard, Karolina Pliskova, Caroline Garcia and Coco Vandeweghe.

> vote for Dellacqua now!

“Honoured to be nominated for @WTA Most Improved Player for 2014 alongside 4 very talented younger ladies (I am the old girl) #bringon2015,” she tweeted.

Dellacqua began the year ranked 142nd before reaching the Australian Open fourth round as a wildcard.

Good results continued to follow; she progressed to the quarterfinals at Indian Wells, reached the semifinals in Birmingham, and equalled her best-ever Grand Slam result with a run to the last 16 at the US Open.

A late-season quarterfinal appearance in Tokyo and third-round finish in Wuhan helped entrench her inside the world’s top 30 – she would peak at a career-high ranking of No.26 in September.

By joining compatriot Sam Stosur in the top 30, it meant that Australia had two women finishing a season inside this elite bracket for the first time since 1988.

During 2014, Dellacqua enjoyed wins over higher-ranked opponents such as Stosur, Sabine Lisicki, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Kirsten Flipkens and Roberta Vinci.

Voting for the WTA Most Improved Player Award closes on Monday 17 November – the winner will be announced the next day.