Ireland in sixth place: Edward Little and Conor Swail both found their way into the winner's enclosure on the international circuit over the weekend, but there was no joy for Little and his compatriots at the Finnish Nations Cup in Ypaja, where the Ireland B team finished sixth of nine nations, writes Grania Willis
Little had boosted Irish morale with victory in Saturday's Finnish Derby when he was one of four clear in the first round.
The 26-year-old Fermanagh rider went on to clock 58.08 with Pulserate in the timed decider, and despite a fence down, Little scored by almost five seconds from the Finnish runner-up, Immonen Pinja.
Little had ridden Belvedere to 12th in Friday's Grand Prix, and the pair teamed up again for yesterday's Nations Cup to produce two four-fault rounds.
Olive Clarke, fifth behind Little in the Derby and second in yesterday's two-phase, kept the Irish in the hunt.
At the French fixture in Lons le Saunier, Conor Swail kept the Irish out in front when scoring in Friday's two-phase and Trevor Coyle contributed a second place on Merveille de Muze.
Hewitt ends drought
Lleyton Hewitt ended a 17-month title drought when he beat James Blake 6-4, 6-4 to win a record-equalling fourth Stella Artois Championships yesterday.
Hewitt outfoxed the big-hitting American, who had shocked the triple defending champion, Andy Roddick, in the semi-finals.
Only John McEnroe and Boris Becker had won the pre-Wimbledon grass-court event four times.
It was Hewitt's first title since he won at Sydney in January 2005 and avenged his defeat by Blake in the Las Vegas final in March.
Hewitt, who also won at Queen's Club in 2000, 2001 and 2002, broke serve in the first game and controlled the match from that moment on.
He sealed both the first and second sets with big first serves that careered off Blake's racket.
Hewitt broke Blake's serve immediately to set the pattern for the first set. Blake did manage to break back when trailing 5-2 but Hewitt earned a set point on his next service game with an angled forehand drive. A timely first serve brought him the set.
Hewitt broke decisively at 3-3 in the second set. Philip Reid
Four Irish on Curtis Cup team
There'll be no Michelle Wie this time round, but Claire Coughlan - conqueror of the Hawaiian in the last contest two years ago at Formby, England - will again savour Curtis Cup competition when Britain and Ireland seek to regain the trophy at Bandon Dunes, Oregon, on July 29th-30th.
Coughlan is one of four Irish women, a record, named on the team for the match with the United States and is the only player on the eight-woman team with Curtis Cup experience.
In recognition of Ireland's impact of recent years, highlighted by the win in the international team competition at last week's Women's British Amateur Championship, the Irish quartet of Coughlan, Tricia Mangan, Martina Gillen and Tara Delaney have been named on the team, which is captained by Ada O'Sullivan from Monkstown.
At 32 years of age, Mangan, from Ennis, who successfully retained her Irish close title last month, is the oldest member of the team, which is completed by Naomi Edwards, Breanne Loucks, Kiran Matharu and Melissa Reid.
Mangan could be considered unlucky not to have made the team at Formby, where the US were 10-8 winners. But her form of recent years, when she won back-to-back Irish titles and topped the ILGU order of merit in 2003 and 2005, ensured she couldn't be left off the team on this occasion.
The selection of four Irish players is a record number. In the 1986 match at Prairie Dunes in Kansas, Lilian Behan, Claire Hourihane and Mary McKenna were on the winning team.
BRITAIN AND IRELAND (clubs and ages in brackets): C Coughlan (Cork, 26), T Delaney (Carlow, 20), N Edwards (Ganton, 22), M Gillen (Beaverstown, 24), B Loucks (Wrexham, 18), T Mangan (Ennis, 32), K Matharu (Cookridge Hall, 17), M Reid (Chevin, 18). Non-travelling reserves : H Macrae (Dunblane New, 22), K Caithness (St Regulus, 17), F Parker (Royal Birkdale, 17), F Johnson (Harborne, 18).
