Foster eases into next round

It's A far cry from playing Pete Sampras in Wimbledon to a first round match in the Irish Open championships at Templeogue. But Britain's Andrew Foster took the change of scene in his stride last night when he coasted into the second round of the Carlsberg-sponsored event winning 6-3 6-1.

Any conversation with Foster, attempting, at 25, to recover his best form, inevitably leads to his big day at Wimbledon in 1993. After dispatching the challenge of Joe Hannigan, Foster was happy, as always, to talk about his big day four years ago. "It was nervy playing the big man himself in the biggest tournament in the world. I was 21 then and it all seemed too good to be true.

"The aggressive pattern in the game such as we know it today had just taken off. Less of the percentage game and a more attack conscious trend is the big difference I have noted over the past six years.

The young fellows coming along now are being taught this way. I am in the process of changing my game accordingly with the help of my new coach, Alan Jones."

Foster's immediate aim, following injuries and a less aggressive game, is to get back among the top 200 in the world and take it from there.

Meanwhile, Stephen Taylor, one of Ireland's best under-18 players, scored a notable win by beating Canada's David Critchley 7-6 6-4.

Taylor started an unexpected duo of Irish wins, for he was closely followed back to the referee's office by a smiling Sean Cooper, whose heavy serving game had just enabled him to get the better of South African seed Gareth Hewartson in three tough sets. The top seed, Nick Weal, of Britain, with a world ranking of 384, seemed unruffled by the windy conditions and the challenge of Irish teenager Stephen Nugent when he progressed comfortably 63 6-0. "I couldn't get into it," was Nugent's succinct comment.

Weal opened up the court with a fluent style and could afford to throw in the odd unforced error in an hour-long match. The new Irish under-18 champion Dearbhla Kelly got through, beating Shiela Doyle easily after first set trouble.

Men's singles - First round: N Weal (Brit) bt S Nugent 6-3 6-0; L Vosloo (RSA) bt J Booth (Brit) 6-1 6-0; A Neumann (Aus) bt G Doyle 6-1 6-0; S Taylor bt D Critchley (Can) 7-6 6-4; C Beecher (Brit) bt G Kilduff 6-3 7-6; A Turner bt S Booth 6-2 4-6 6-4; R Tucker (Aus) bt C Williams 6-2 4-6 6-4; S Cooper bt G Hewartson (RSA) 6-3 6-7 6-3; J Davidson bt C Darcy 6-2 6-2; A Foster bt J Hannigan 6-3 6-1; N Fulwood (Brit) bt D O'Conmell 6-1 6-1; J Doran bt S Doyle 6-4 6-1; J Rendina bt G Turek (Can) 6-4 1-6 7-6.

Women's singles - First round: K Warner Holland (Brit) bt J O'Brien 6-4 6-1; J Sinkins (Brit) bt E Moore 7-5 6-1; D Kelly bt S Doyle 7-5 6-0; M Jubert (RSA) bt E Fagan 6-1 6-0; G Niland bt A O'Neill 6-3 6-1; L O'Halloran bt V Davis 6-3 6-2.