TENNIS: An encounter of demanding proportions for world-ranked top seed Barry Fulcher and a spate of injuries that ruled out two prominent seeded players in the women's singles proved the talking points at the Danone Irish Open Indoor championships at the David Lloyd Riverview club at the weekend.

Fed Cup players Karen Nugent and Claire Curran, seeded three and four, were ushered out of the tournament with recurring injuries. Nugent was the first to go on Saturday when she had to throw-in the towel as early as the second game in her match with Paris-based teenager Rachel Dillon.

Curran was forced to retire at the end of a very competitive tie-breaker against Lithuanian Gilina Misiuriova.

Dillon was subsequently beaten by the holder, Anne Marie Hogan, 7-5 6-1 in the quarter-finals. The top seed, Yvonne Doyle, and the player she is seeded to face in the final, Elsa O'Riain, came through their quarter-final matches with consummate ease.

Andrea Ryan failed to cope with the consistency of Doyle and went down with only one game to her credit.

It was much the same story when Limavady's Fionna Gallagher tried to deal with O'Riain's general edge in experience gleaned over the past year on the professional circuit.

Clontarf's David O'Connell earned new admirers by the way he tried to dismantle Fulcher's game. The top seed was notably extended in the second set before coming through shakily in the tie-breaker.

Conor Niland of Limerick and Luke Sorensen, a son of former Irish Davis Cup star Seán, continued to show good form.

Mens singles: Second round - B Fulcher bt C McNamara 6-0 6-0; C O'Brien bt D McLoughlin 7-5 6-0; P Morrissey bt J Cluskey 6-1 6-3; S Cooper bt J McGee 6-1 6-2; S Taylor bt M Lynch 6-3 6-0; J McGahon bt E Mawe 6-2 6-0; D O'Connell bt R Green 6-1 6-3;D Rowan bt P Brickley 4-1 retired; L Sorensen bt G Kilduff 6-2 6-4; J Colhon bt M Allen 6-0 6-2; C Niland bt M Higgins 6-0 6-0; S Nugent bt A Farren Mahon 6-0 6-1; N Malone bt C Gibney 6-1 6-2; F Lennon bt P O'Shea 7-5 2-6 7-5; A Hogan bt bt T McGrath 6-3 3-6 6-4. Third round - Niland bt Colhoun 6-1 6-1; Sorensen bt Lennon 6-2 7-6; Fulcher bt D O'Connell 6-3 7-6.

Women's singles: Second round - R Dillon bt K Nugent 2-0 retired; C Curran bt C Finnucane 6-0 6-0; Y Doyle bt C McMorrow 6-0 6-1; G Misiuriova bt K Leonard 3-6 6-0 6-0; A M Hogan bt E Sloan 6-2 6-2; E O'Riain bt N Moore 6-1 6-0. Quarter-finals: Y Doyle bt A Ryan 6-1 6-0; G Miisiuriova bt Curran 7-6 retired; Hogan bt Dillon 7-5 6-1; O'Riain bt F Gallagher 6-2 6-1.

Boys singles: Under-18; Third round - J Cluskey bt R Green 6-4 6-4; M Dunne bt E Mawe 6-3 6-2; D McLoughlin bt A Kelly 6-2 7-5; P Morrissey bt P O'Shea 6-2 6-7 6-1. Under-16 - C Ruan bt N Black 6-1 6-0; C McHale bt R Stone 6-4 6-3; C Gibney bt G King 3-6 6-4 6-3. Under-14 - C O'Toole bt P O'Shea 6-4 6-1; N O'Keeffe bt J Glancy 7-6 6-3; T Murphy bt B Featherston 6-4 0-6 6-4. Under-12 - S Barry bt C Fitzgerald 6-2 6-4; L Moore bt F Ruane 6-3 6-3.

Girls singles: Under-18; First round - E Heffernan bt E Wright 6-1 6-2; A Wynne bt A Kieran 6-1 6-1; S Griffith bt D Power 6-0 6-0. Under-16; Third round - N Moore bt E Tierney 6-2 6-4; F Gallagher bt H Ovington 6-2 6-2; C Headon bt J Power 6-0 6-7 6-3; K O'Flynn bt E Maughan 6-7 7-6 6-3. Under-14 - V Gaidau bt L Lawlor 6-2 6-2; L Milner bt A Griffith 6-3 6-1; J Claffey bt P Swanton 6-0 6-0. Under-12 - S Kennedy bt T Murtagh 6-2 6-4; L Maughan bt L Matthews 7-5 6-1; S McLoughlin bt C McCullagh 6-0 7-5; C Duffy bt S Downey 6-2 3-6 6-3.

HOPMAN CUP: The world number one Lleyton Hewitt opened his 2003 season in style yesterday, defeating Italy's Davide Sanguinetti 6-3 6-1 in the Hopman Cup in Perth.

And partnering Alicia Molik in the mixed team event, Hewitt clinched victory for second-seeded Australia in the Group B match after Molik had beaten Silvia Farina Elia 6-3 6-4 to put the hosts ahead.

Neither an electrical storm which caused a 55-minute blackout midway through the match, nor a stringing blunder by tournament staff could deflect Hewitt at the Burswood Dome. The Australians were awarded a walkover in the mixed doubles and a 3-0 victory when Sanguinetti chose to rest his ankle.

Third seeds, the Czech Republic, beat Slovakia 2-1 in the other match.