Hungarian boasts strong final claims

Petra Mandula of Hungary goes into today's Rover-sponsored Irish Women's Open final at Riverview with convincing credentials. She won the European under-18 title two seasons ago and will play for her second $25,000 ETA title in successive weeks.

The affable Hungarian generated awesome power on her ground strokes yesterday to dispatch Jasmine Choudhury of Britain in their semi-final 6-3 6-1. "I had struggled on those courts (synthetic grass) all week but today for the first time I adapted to them," the 20-year-old said afterwards.

Mandula's opponent in the final is sixth seed Lucie Ahl of Britain. Ahl celebrated her 24th birthday on Thursday and will not be intimidated by her opponent, especially after hitting such great heights in her semi-final victory over Miroslava Vavrinec of Switzerland.

Ahl, coached by Jo Durie, said she has probably never played as well as she did in her 6-1 6-1 victory. She pounded winners with great regularity and dropped only three points on serve in the second set. Vavrinec's challenge rapidly deteriorated and her defeat came in 55 minutes.

Choudhury had never won a round at ETA level before. She described Mandula's pace as "unbelievable".

Mandula, who won in Germany last week, was in a frugal mood in the second set yesterday, losing only four points in four service games, two of them double faults.

Mandula said it was easier to attain full potential as a junior. "There tends to be other attractions outside tennis after junior days. You are really playing for your parents and family as a junior but when you are 20 you have to take on more responsibilities yourself.".

Her target over the next two or three years is to reach the top 20. Both Mandula and Ahl rely largely on power, which augurs for a blistering final.

Victory in today's final would possibly mean more for Ahl. "I would like to vindicate my work with Jo (Durie) and Alan ( Jones) and win this one before the Spanish circuit next week," she said.