Men’s Irish Open sees mixed results for local tennis players

There was mixed fortunes for the Irish players in action on the opening day of the FBD Irish Open in Fitzwilliam yesterday.

Bjorn Thomson, who is based in the famed Nick Bollettieri academy, had a terrific 6-4, 7-5 victory over fellow qualifier Vincent Suillerot of France. Thomson hit some great groundstrokes along with a big serving display. Equally impressive was his calmness under pressure as he twice had to come from 0-40 behind in a tight second set to avoid losing his serve.

It was a mixed day for the Bothwell family where brothers Peter and Sam were in action. Peter had a great win against Bruce Strachan of Scotland. The Belfast player suffered a narrow defeat to the Scots last week but gained revenge with a 6-2, 6-4 victory.

Bothwell’s younger brother, Sam, a wildcard in the tournament, was defeated by the tournament’s seventh seed, Tom Farquharson. The British player had too much power, winning 6-3, 6-1.

One of the most anticipated matches of the opening day was the clash between 15-year-old Irish player Simon Carr and the tournament’s fourth seed Daniel Smethurst of Britain.

Carr, playing in his first ever professional event, is a wildcard in the tournament and is a son of former Dublin captain and manager Tommy Carr.

Carr acquitted himself well against his more experienced opponent. He appeared a little overawed in the opening set but led 3-0 in the second before Smethurst hit back to take the set. It will be interesting to follow Carr’s career as the Mullingar player has left school to focus on his tennis career

The third Irish wildcard in the event, 18-year-old Osgar Ó hOisín, lost 6-1, 6-4 to British Davis Cup player Dan Evans.

Elsewhere, top seed Hugo Rhys needed three sets to beat Stefan Merunka while qualifier Lloyd Glasspool beat third seed Peter Kobelt.