Kelly Liggan made a valuable debut for Ireland's women's tennis team with a top singles victory in the opening round of the European Championship in Porto, Portugal, yesterday.

Ireland's new-look formation proved highly effective and their 2-1 win puts them into today's semi-final against top seeds Slovenia. Victory here would mean promotion to division one.

Liggan made a big impact given that her match was turned into a pressure tie after Gina Niland was beaten in curious circumstances. The Spanish-based Liggan proved undaunted as she swept to a straight sets win over Helen Asciak in just over an hour.

But the big talking point was Niland's defeat after she had held six match points against Lisa Camenzuli. The Irish woman was fairly shattered after her 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 defeat. The irony was that Niland had already beaten Camenzuli on three previous occasions.

Said team manager Peter: "We have greater depth in the team now. Before, when Gina lost, the team would also lose. Kelly (Liggan) must be given credit for winning what was a pressure singles on her debut."

And the new Ireland doubles partnership of Yvonne Doyle and Claire Curran turned up trumps with a tie-deciding straight sets win over Camenzuli and Cassar Torr eggiani, 6-3 6-1.