Bishopstown teenager Emma Murphy rid herself of first-set difficulties to reach the quarter-finals of the Irish Open indoor championships at Riverview yesterday.
But, following her 1-6 6-2 6-3 win over Clodagh McMorrow, Murphy identified the problems she will have in deciding between tennis, soccer and athletics as her priority sport.
Already she has had to decide between soccer and tennis at a crucial stage of development in her young career. "The British squad coach Alan Jones was seemingly impressed by my performance against England's number one junior Alean Balatacha in the recent Home internationals and asked me to join his squad but I had to forego the opportunity to play with the Ireland soccer team in the European qualifiers instead."
Murphy's tennis career will also be disrupted by soccer in the spring when she will be pulling on the Ireland under-18 shirt again in Norway. In between she will be pursuing an athletics career that has already yielded national cross-country and track honours.
Her first-set performance against McMorrow was strewn with errors. "I never played on that surface (rubber) before and couldn't do a thing right. I persisted and I thought Clodagh began to tire." The Cork all-rounder faces Dubliner Andrea Ryan in the last eight.
Katheryn Leonard, one of two Navan sisters in the championship, won by the most bizarre of scores 0-6 6-2 6-0 at the expense of Laura O'Reilly.
Nelson Boyle, the reigning national under-18 champion from Larne, also dropped a set but confirmed his summer win at Fitzwilliam by beating his great rival Timo Barry 6-3 3-6 6-3.
Boyle's progress now depends on how he fares against David O'Connell in the round of 16. "I started in Queen's but I may look for a transfer to an American University this year where I would get a better opportunity to improve my game," said Boyle.
MEN'S SINGLES - Second round: P Clarke bt E Heavey 6-3 6-0; N Boyle bt T Barry 6-3 3-6 6-3; B King bt S Collins 6-1 1-0 ret; N Fagan bt A Hogan 6-3 6-0; D O'Connell bt N Keeling 6-1 6-0; G Kilduff bt C Taylor 7-6 1-6 6-1; J Hazley bt S Brugha 6-0 6-0; S Fluskey bt M O'Neill 6-0 6-2; S Nugent bt R Sinclair 7-5 6-1; M Finnegan bt A Kelly 6-1 6-2.
WOMEN'S SINGLES - Second round: E Murphy bt C McMorrow 1-6 6-2 6-3; A M Hogan bt K O'Flynn 6-1 6-1; A Wynne bt S Sheppard 62 6-3; K Leonard bt L O'Reilly 0-6 6-2 6-0; G Niland bt A Whyte 6-0 6-1; A Leonard bt N Cox 6-4 6-4; E O Riain bt A Kiernan 6-2 6-0; S Griffith bt J Johnston 4-6 7-5 6-1
Australian star Mark Philippoussis was ruled out of next month's Australian Open yesterday because of a knee injury.
The 24-year-old, runner-up in the US Open in 1998, will also miss the upcoming Hopman Cup and the Australia-Ecuador first-round Davis Cup clash in Perth in February.
Philippoussis was to have teamed with Nicole Pratt in the Australian team for the Hopman Cup, starting tomorrow. Tournament director Paul McNamee said he understood Philippoussis had surgery in Melbourne yesterday after aggravating an old injury to his left knee, which first surfaced at Wimbledon 18 months ago, while walking upstairs at his Melbourne home on Wednesday.
McNamee said he believed Philippoussis would not be back in action until late February.
