Tennis:Ireland will have two entrants in the opening round of a Grand Slam for the first time after Louk Sorensen followed Conor Niland's lead with a victory in the final qualifying round at the US Open Flushing Meadows tonight.
Earlier in the day Niland continued his dream summer as he won his way into the main draw following a 2-6 6-1 6-4 victory over Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands.
And Sorensen, who had retired from the game because of injury, made it a memorable double when he took care of Austria’s Martin Fischer 7-6 6-1 in New York tonight. It marks the first Irish involvement in the event since Matt Doyle played in the 1980s.
It was the second time Sorensen was on court today, after beating Gastao Elias from Argentina 6-4 6-1 in his postponed second-round match this afternoon.
It is the second time for Sorensen to compete in a Grand Slam after he qualified for the 2001 Australian Open, but for Niland it is two in the space of three months after also making it into Wimbledon back in June.
Niland beat Taipei’s Tsung-Hua Yang in straight sets last night but lost the first set this afternoon to Middelkoop before claiming the second 6-1.
The final set was going to serve until Niland, ranked 199th in the world, broke the Dutchman to seal victory.