It was the general consensus at Templeogue last evening that Owen Casey's decision to retire from the professional circuit last year was a distinctly premature one. Just when he seemed to be bowing out to the lethal forehand of Nick Gould , the number three seed, in the semi-final of the Irish Open Championship, the resilient Dubliner unleashed a performance of excellence to frustrate the Englishman and win a two-hour battle 4-6 6-1 7-5.

The doughty Dubliner keeps proving that he has a lot more to offer as Gould found to his cost after leading 5-2 in the final set. "I never accepted the match was over at that stage - there was only one break in it," said Casey. The titanic struggle reached its high point as Casey broke back for 5-5 and then proceeded to serve for the match in the 12th game.

By this time, Gould, in utter despair, had belted two balls in the direction of Harolds Cross. He earned the wrath of Wimbledon referee Donal O'Sullivan Latchford and was warned for ball abuse and court violation.

The top seed, Tom Spinks of England, survived two final-set match points to reach his third final. He found it difficult to shake off the tenacious challenge of Australian Ashley Fisher, seeded six.

Spinks explained his uphill struggle after winning the first set comfortably: "When you stop doing what you do well, you let your opponent play all over you."

Reflecting on his precarious final set position during which he trailed 1-3 and then faced two match points, Spinks said: "I was so negative I thought there was no way back." But the reality was that Fisher lost out on the second of his two match points, the deciding point of the tense 10th game, when his deftly applied backhand caught the net.

Basically it was a match between Fisher's delicate touch, especially out of the backhand court, and Spinks's more forceful approach. Spinks led 4-0 in the final set tie-break before scraping through 7-5

Men's Singles (semi-finals) - -T Spinks (Brit) bt A Fisher (Aus) 6-2 2-6 7-6 (7/5); O Casey bt N Gould (Brit) 4-6 6-1 7-5.

Women's Doubles (final) - N Tippins (NZ) and M Joubert (RSA) bt A Napier (Brit) and D Kelly 6-1 3-6 6-2.

Pete Sampras will be chasing history when the US Open championships start at Flushing Meadows on Monday - but Andre Agassi has already made it. In June, Agassi became only the fifth man to win all four of the Grand Slams when he did what Sampras so far has not: win the French Open.

Sampras will be seeking to eclipse Roy Emerson's record of 12 Grand Slam titles at Flushing Meadows, but it is Agassi who is guaranteed the adoration of the vocal New York crowd.

"Since the French, it's hard not to feel like everything is icing on the cake," said Agassi, who won the ATP Tour event in Washington last week to go into the US Open as the second seed.

Agassi's triumph at Roland Garros was followed by defeat in the final at Wimbledon against Sampras