Barron in form

While the women's semi-finals proved one-sided at the Irish close tennis championships at Donnybrook last night, there was at least good news for Ireland's Davis Cup team captain Peter Wright with Scott Barron recovering from a shoulder injury. Barron has gone from putting 50 to 100 per cent effort into his serves within a few days and cruised into tonight's semi-finals only dropping three first set games to James Pringle, a final year student in computer science at Trinity.

"I got a little reaction early on and took it easy but by the second set I was giving it a lash," he said. a pleased Barron.

Pringle believes Barron will be ready for next week's Davis Cup match in Denmark. Pringle along with two other graduates, Robert Collins (Rice University Texas) and John Doran (Harvard) hope to plan a year out on the professional circuit next year. Two three setters saw George McGill and Joe Green move into the semi-finals at the expense of David Mullins and Sean Cooper respectively.

Owen Casey, the number two seed, has only dropped four games en route to the penultimate stage, his latest victim being Nick Malone, for the loss of a game.

Women's top seed Gina Niland and Yvonne Doyle only dropped a couple of games between them in disappointing semi-finals.

Both players thrive on steady play, a tactic that has gone over the head of Lesley O'Halloran, the number two seed, beaten with ease by Doyle whose returns upset O'Halloran's plans.