Limerick's George McGill, a final year student at the University of Indiana, intends to make another good impression from the number four seeded position in this week's David Lloyd Irish Open indoor championships at reconstructed Riverview. His opening match, though, against a young teenager in Dara McLoughlin was unexpectedly more than a warm-up, but he astutely brought his superior experience to the fore of his attack to polish off a somewhat brittle challenge 6-4, 6-3.
The Irish Davis Cup player is not sure what is in store for him after graduation in May: "I will probably give the circuits a try, but it depends how my game develops in a planned series of tournaments ahead of me before I leave college," he said.
McGill is too often a victim of his own erratic play and there were distinct signs of this last evening, but he will have a clearer picture of his chances this week before taking on number two seed and Davis Cup colleague John Doran in a likely semi-final clash on New Year's Eve.
Peter Clarke, the top seed, is even more anxious to make a big impact. He first attempted to win the title last year when he had just returned home to his native Dublin after spending 14 of his 21 years building a reputation for himself in savagely competitive Australian junior and open tournaments.
Since arriving home, Clarke has earned his Davis Cup wings largely due to a high world-ranking.
He made short work of an inadequate an Dolan youthful challenge by Ciaran Dolan, dropping only a single game, but the real tests for him obviously lie ahead, not least from Conor Niland or Stephen Nugent.
Both Niland and Nugent were in frugal mood in first-round openers to the dismay of Cian O Brolchain and Robert Foley.
Nick Malone of Greystones, who rarely fails to give a good account of himself at this level, went through in straight sets at the expense of John McMahon.
Men's Singles - First round: P Clarke bt C Dolan 6-1 60; E Heavey bt K O'Brien 6-3 4-6 6-2; S Collins bt G Felton 61 6-1; B King bt G Norman 6-0 6-0; N Fagan bt M Lynch 6-1 6-0; A Hogan bt D Rowan 7-6 6-1; F Lennon bt M Woldt 5-7 6-4 63; A Farren-Mahon bt J Cervi 6-1 6-0; M O'Neill bt R Green 6-0 6-0; S O'Connor bt L Cohen 6-1 6-2; G Kilduff bt G Doran 62 6-2; C O Morain bt A Jones 6-4 7-5; D Fluskey bt L Cassidy 4-6 6-3 6-2; N Malone bt J McGahon 6-4 6-1; C Taylor bt J Cluskey 6-2 6-2; A Sinclair bt F Molle 6-2 6-2; B Kennedy bt T Faran-Mahon 6-2 6-2; R Niland bt K Pender 6-2 6-0; G McGill bt D McLoughlin 6-4 6-3; S Nugent bt R Foley 6-1 6-0; N Boyle bt P Brickley 6-1 6-3; T Barry bt M Martin 6-0 6-0.
Australian Mark Philippoussis is banned from buying any more cars until he wins a grand slam tournament, his new coach Peter McNamara said yesterday.
