Owen Casey confirmed his edge over Davis Cup colleague Tommy Hamilton in the final of the Heineken-sponsored East of Ireland senior open tennis championship at Lansdowne LTC on Saturday. Casey was brought to three sets by a gutsy Hamilton performance that was only snuffed out, 7-4, by the top seed's greater experience in the final-set tie-break.

Hamilton's recovery to level the match in the second-set tie-break (8-6), added spice to the match and gave rise to promise of a shock result. Irish number one Gina Niland was brought to a final set by Claire Curran in the women's final. It was difficult enough for Niland even though the Irish number one managed to win the final set for the loss of only one game.

Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman took a firm grip on a career-high top-20 ranking, beating fifth seed Carlos Moya of Spain 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) in the RCA Championships final in Indiana yesterday.

Bjorkman (25), will advance from 23rd after dismantling the game of the Australian Open finalist from Spain in one hour, 24 minutes, to win $150,000 at the $1 million event, a tune-up for the US Open.