Sports Digest

Other sports news in brief

Niland win in Israel Open will bring him into top 200

TENNIS:Irish Davis Cup stalwart Conor Niland won the Israel Open in Ramat Hasharon on Saturday defeating the Number four seed Thiago Alves (Bra) in the final on a scoreline of 5-7 7-6(5) 6-3.

Alves, who has a current ranking of 127 in the ATP World rankings took the first set before Niland stormed back taking the final two sets in a match lasting three hours and eight minutes.

This is a huge career breakthrough for Niland. In the early part of the season he was within a couple of points of qualifying in Doha and also at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

In recent weeks he reached the main draw of the US Men’s Claycourt Championships in Houston.

His win on Saturday will bring him into the top 200 in the World and he takes over from Louk Sorensen as Irish Number one.

O'Brien has the Midas Touch

HORSE RACING:Midas Touch gave Aidan O'Brien his eighth success in the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial when landing the Group Two contest at Leopardstown yesterday.

The son of 2001 winner Galileo came from last to first under a confident ride from Johnny Murtagh to beat fellow 2-1 joint-favourite Address Unknown by two lengths.

Address Unknown went on over a furlong out, but Murtagh had the move covered and Midas Touch quickened into the lead to score in cosy fashion.

He was cut from 25 to 1 for the Investec Derby to 14 to 1 with William Hill, and to 12s with Victor Chandler. O’Brien said: “He finished the race very well and I believe it was a good time so I am delighted with it.”

Commercial's pair do the double

ROWING:Commercial's junior pair of Claire Cooney and Ruth Morris won on Saturday and yesterday at the giant KRSG regatta in Ghent in Belgium, writes Liam Gorman.

Marie O’Neill of Cork Boat Club almost matched the feat, as she was first on Saturday and second yesterday in the women’s senior single scull.

In the very competitive junior sculling events, Castleconnell had a good day yesterday: Adrian Sheehan was second of 47 competitors in the junior 18 single scull and he partnered Eoghan O’Connor to fourth of 27 in the junior double scull. The French national federation entered crews in the junior 18 events, leaving the other crews in their wake.

Farrar stays calm to claim stage

CYCLING:American Tyler Farrar picked his way through a scene of chaos to win the second stage of the Giro d'Italia yesterday.

Riders were crashing left, right and centre on the 210-km stage from Amsterdam to Utrecht with traffic islands in the middle of the roads appearing to cause many of the problems.

First stage winner Bradley Wiggins was involved in one of the biggest mass pile-ups and although he restarted quickly, his pink leader’s jersey now hangs on the shoulders of Australian world champion Cadel Evans. The decision to hold the first three stages of this year’s Giro in the bike-mad Netherlands looked to have been a good one after a captivating opening time trial in Amsterdam on Saturday but organisers will now be scratching their heads.

Inevitably for an almost pancake-flat stage, there was a sprint finish at the close which was won by Farrar.

Good weekend for Leinster

CRICKET:Leinster sides enjoyed a good weekend in the Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup with eight making it through to the third round of the competition, writes Emmet Riordan.

Defending champions Leinster eased past Terenure by eight wickets at Rathmines with Carlos Brathwaite making an undefeated 82 to set up a third-round clash away to Fox Lodge.

The other all-Leinster tie saw Railway Union beat Rush by two wickets at Park Avenue to earn another home clash against YMCA, who had a fine victory away to Bready, winning by 116 runs.

Pembroke won a tight affair at Oak Hill in Wicklow, beating North Down by eight runs and are now drawn at home to The Hills, who won away to Carrickfergus by nine wickets. Merrion travelled to beat Strabane, with pro Greg Clarence making a century in a 58-run win, but Clontarf went out after a six-wicket defeat to Coleraine.

First round defeat for Henin

TENNIS:Four-time French Open champion Justine Henin's preparation for the Roland Garros grand slam event suffered a shuddering jolt with a defeat by France's Aravane Rezai in the Madrid Open first round yesterday. Henin won the Stuttgart title on clay last week but her first serve here was inconsistent and Rezai, the world number 22, took full advantage to register a 4-6 7-5 6-0 victory.