TENNIS: It was a night of nostalgia for Eoin Collins last night at Donnybrook where he competed in the Irish Close championships more than 15 years after he won the title as a junior.
Collins has been in America for some years but was glad to be back on his old stomping ground. He made good progress by beating local player Justin Purcell, 6-1, 6-0.
A player finding his way in Davis Cup competition is Nicky Malone who made his breakthrough in the Irish game at Christmas when winning the National Indoor championship.
Malone was surprisingly held up for a while by Garret Doran, a younger brother of the number two seed John Doran.
Malone in fact lost a tense opening set 5-7 but then came to 6-3, 6-3.
The women's top seed Elsa O'Riain from Cork is just back from a second term on the professional circuit and dismissed the challenge of Ciara Finucane without fuss.
O'Riain is taking another year off to test her ability on the WTA Circuit and expressed surprise last night that she has already broken into the top 400 rankings in the world, after only a few months on tour.
MEN'S SINGLES: Second round: N Malone bt G Doran 5-7 6-3 6-3; G Kilduff bt A Hogan 3-6 6-1 7-6; D Fluskey bt S Travers 6-1 6-1, J McGann bt M Joyce 6-2 6-0; C Niland bt R Green 6-2 6-3; S Taylor bt K Keeling 6-2 6-2; E Collins bt J Purcell 6-1 6-0; D O'Connell bt J Cluskey 6-4 6-3.
WOMEN'S SINGLES: first round: E O'Riain bt C Finucane 6-1 6-0; J Macken bt H Butler 6-4 6-0.
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