Nick Fulwood (35) from Derby contributed to an embarrassing bashing for the seedings committee when making a dramatic recovery against South African Louis Vosloo to reach today's final in the Carlsberg sponsored Irish Open Tennis championship at Templeogue last evening.
The forever sporting Fulwood seeded nine, put it down to luck, but the reality was that he struck back from 2-5 in the first set to take the match in an hour and 15 minutes. "He was hitting the ball unbelievably well," said Fulwood of his young 19-year-old opponent. "I was simply not allowed to play. He had the lot, a good forehand backhand and his serve was going well," added Fulwood.
Vosloo lost two set points and Fulwood sensed his frustration, forced the tiebreak and proceeded on the rampage reeling off the required seven points without reply.
Fulwood's maturity and great eye for the game he loves enabled him to win some remarkable points that seemed lost. He consolidated his position by saving three break points in the second set for 3-0. After that it was plain sailing for a 7-6 6-3 win.
In the context of the seedings the Australian Ashley Naumann did even better than Fulwood by reaching today's final from the number 10 spot. Naumann who at 27 intends to return to university to complete the final year of a BA degree he had started back in 1990, contrived to utilise his advantages over Britain's Andrew Foster in the serve and volley department.
When Foster saw he was being outgunned he tried to mix it, a gambit that was effective only briefly in the early stages of the second set. The English number five threatened at this stage and broke a jaded Naumann service game for 3-1.
Naumann improvised cleverly, broke back immediately and streaked away to a 5-3 lead. He served out comfortably for the match.
Gina Niland the Irish number one and seeded seven also made a mockery of the committee's judgment when tactically dismantling the game of number two seed Limor Gabai of Israel 6-2 6-3. Niland's consistency in returns had Gabai visibly frustrated, the errors flowed from the visitors side of the net and the result always seemed inevitable.
Niland's ability to out manoeuvre an opponent could even hold good against the Russian prospect Julia Lutrova (3) in today's final.
Men's singles (semi-finals). N Fulwood (Britain) bt L Vosloo (RSA) 7-6 (7-0) 6-3 A Naumann (Australia) bt A Foster (Britain) 6-3 6-4.
Women's singles: (Leinster Open) semi-finals. G Niland bt L Gabai (Israel) 6-2 6-3 J Lutrova (Russia) bt M Joubert (South africa) 6-2 6-0.
Women's doubles semi-finals. V Davis and H Crook bt I Wyatt and G Niland 6-2 6-0. M Joubert and L Gabai bt K Warne-Holland and J Lutrova 6-4 3-6 6-2. Final - Davies and Crook bt Joubert and L Gabai.
