CONTRASTING styles and application can be seen at every turn in the Oil of Ulay sponsored $10,000 ITF satellite, doubling as the Irish Open tennis championships, at Riverview this week.
Clear examples of this were on offer as the top seed Evelyn Fauth from Austria and Ireland's Gina Niland were in the process of advancing to the last eight on adjacent courts.
The fact that Niland was far and away a better player than her Australian opponent Elissa Burton did not encourage the only Irish girl remaining in contention to do any thing particularly dramatic.
Not so, however, on the court next door as Fauth and her Bosnian opponent Sondra Mattinovic hit the ball with such ferocity and accuracy.
The entertainment value was equally assured by the length of the rallies in the top seeds match with Fauth taking the first set in 52 minutes, longer than it took Niland to win her match.
The Bosnian played far above her station as a qualifier and led 4-1 in that first set. Her game went slightly down hill after that and failing to pick up a point when serving for 5-1 proved ominous. Fauth's variation carried her through the tie break (7-2) and into a second set which she won 6-2 in 43 minutes.
Burton lacked sufficient depth and accuracy off the ground to be in with any sort of a chance against the sound sure fire play of Niland.
Remarkably though Niland was broken on her opening service game but after that the Limerick woman only lost eight points her way to a 6-1 win.
