Indoor Tennis: Conor Niland and Eoin Heavey were men in a hurry when the opening shots in the David Lloyd National Indoor Tennis Championships were fired at the Riverview club yesterday, writes Pat Roche.
Top seed Niland, who is now officially Ireland's number one player on the ATP world rankings, beat English challenger Michael Hayes 6-1, 6-2 inside the hour. Heavey, seeded to meet Niland in Saturday's final, dropped only two games to Karl Rodgers, 6-1, 6-1.
Cork's Paul Fitzgerald, the national under-18 champion, had it even easier. He was on court for less than 15 minutes when his opponent Andrew Hogan had to retire love-three down with an injured wrist.
MEN'S SINGLES: First round: C Niland bt M Hayes 6-1 6-2; M Botell bt M Dunne 6-1 6-1; T Farren-Mahon bt A Kelly 6-2 6-1; B King bt N Ryan 6-0 6-1; P Fitzgerald bt A Hogan (Hogan retired); D McLoughlin bt B Williams 6-0 6-3; D O'Connell bt P Foley 6-4 6-3; E Heavey bt K Rodgers 6-1 6-1; C Taylor bt B Mulligan 6-0 6-2; S Wrafter bt G Gilhawley 6-3 6-2; G Doran bt C O'Brien 3-6, 6-4 6-4; J McGahon bt D Glancy 6-2 6-2.
WOMEN'S SINGLES: First round: C Finucane bt N Moore 6-1 6-2; L Cuddy bt F Cunningham 6-3 6-3; A M Hogan bt S Fulham 6-0 6-0.
