THE men's singles competition in the Carlsberg Leinster Senior Open Championships at Templeogue was plunged into controversy last night when Ireland's Davis Cup player John Doran was defaulted after only one game and banished from the entire tournament.

Doran, who leaves Ireland this weekend to start a four-year scholarship at Harvard University, was ruled out by tournament referee Steve Mehigan for audible obscenities.

The Irish prospect was playing for a quarter-final place against Britain's Andrew Battie when Mehigan walked on to the court and removed the names from the scoreboard.

He had warned Doran, docked him a penalty point and defaulted him - all within one minute.

Doran claimed he was warned. Moments later Mehigan imposed a penalty point for an alleged audible obscenity. There followed a dialogue between the player and referee and this resulted in the ultimate sanction.

"I am shocked and confused," said Doran afterwards. "I got the warning for talking to myself at the back of the court. It's unfair. I was quoting, to the referee, what exactly another player had said in an earlier match when he defaulted me." Now Doran faces suspension by Tennis Ireland's disciplinary committee.

Battle went through to the quarter-finals without breaking sweat.