THE BEST young prospects in Irish tennis, with the exception of Wimbledon tied Claire Curran, will be put to the test as titles in the Carlsberg sponsored Irish Close championships go on offer, starting at Donnybrook tomorrow.
Robert Collins and George McGill return from US scholarships to renew rivalry with the Dublin cousins John Doran (already a Davis Cup player) and Joe Greene (awaiting the nod from the international selectors).
These four players are all aware that the man to beat is seasoned international and American based Eoin Collins, who can endorse his number one seeding by taking the title he first won as a 15 year old. But for the fact that he has taken up full time employment in a Detroit bank, Collins would assuredly have claimed another Olympic place.
Tom Hamilton may stand the best chance of upsetting the ambitions of Collins this time. Missing will be Atlanta bound Owen Casey and Scott Barron.
Gina Niland takes a break from the international circuit and is duly seeded at the top in a strong women's entry. Curran was among the original entries before, not surprisingly, she was accepted for Junior Wimbledon.
The major challenges to Niland in the £5,500 event are likely to come from Yvonne Doyle, Lesley O'Halloran and Jenny O'Brien.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)