IRISH DAVIS Cup player Owen Casey was the odd man out in the quarter-finals of the Carlsberg Irish Close tennis championships at Donnybrook last evening.
Casey won in straight sets, as might have been predicted, against Nicky Malone, but he was the only non-US-based scholarship player to go through to the semi-finals.
The holder, Tommy Hamilton, John Doran and George McGill who are home on summer vacation, complete the last-four line-up.
Doran got through by the short route with Jonathan Scott retiring in the first set. McGill despatched Cormac Jennings easily. Hamilton beat the tenacious Joe Green 6-3, 6-4.
Claire Curran, another US-based Irish international, took almost two hours to fend off her senior Federation Cup colleague, Lesley O'Halloran. Two breaks of serve in the final set enabled Curran to advance 7-5, 2-6, 6- 4. She meets Gina Niland in the final.
