Sports Digest/TENNIS: It was a day of great celebration for 18-year-old German Mischa Zverev who became the youngest winner of the men's Irish Open tennis championship, the second oldest championship in the world, at the Fitzwilliam club on Saturday, writes Pat Roche.
The Shelbourne-sponsored championships had to go indoors because of rain and the move to the fast carpet gave Zverev's stunning serve-volley game a distinct advantage. His Danish opponent, Kristian Pless, did not need convincing. The number three seed struggled to pass Zverev and was well beaten 7-5 7-6 (8-6).
Zverev is at the foothills of a special career. Some of the best judges in Germany are already tagging him as the new Boris Becker. Pless, the world's number one under-18 seven years ago made many errors notably in the first set when he failed to break service in the eighth game despite having three break points. Zverev responded in trademark fashion, a smash, volley and pass.
The first set fell to Zverev in the 11th game of that set and he aced his more experienced opponent to take a set in 25 minutes.
When they shared a break each in the second set the tie-break looked inevitable from 2-1 and the German got the necessary mini breaks to close down the match in an hour and a half on the 14th point of the tie-break.
Men's Irish Open championship final: M Zverev (Germany) bt K Pless (Denmark) 7-5 7-6 (8-6).
RUGBY: After watching his New Zealand side dismantle Australia in the opening Tri-Nations match on Saturday, coach Graham Henry will be in confident mood ahead of his trip to Brisbane this week to watch the Wallabies play South Africa.
The All Blacks ran up an emphatic 32-12 victory over the Wallabies in Christchurch, but Henry knows his team can get even better before they meet the Springboks in Wellington on July 22nd.
It took 20 minutes for New Zealand to get a grip on the game, but after they settled there was no looking back. Wallabies Rocky Elsom's yellow card in the 27th minute allowed New Zealand to drive home their superiority.
RACING: Kieren Fallon's week failed to receive a much-needed tonic as Stormy River came from last to first to land the Prix Jean Prat in sensational style at Chantilly yesterday. Fallon was riding the Aidan O'Brien-trained Ivan Denisovich (eighth) in the Group One contest over a mile and hopes were high that he could turn the tables on the Nicolas Clement-trained Stormy River.
The pair had met in the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot when they filled the places behind the impressive Araafa, but the French horse had looked unlucky after being set plenty to do by Olivier Peslier. However, reunited with his regular partner Thierry Thulliez, he finally landed the big prize he has looked capable of all season.
Thulliez settled the favourite in last position and as soon as he t saw daylight his turn of foot was instantaneous and won by a cosy half-length from Kentucky Dynamite, with Dilek back in third.
CANOEING: Ireland's Neil Fleming and Brendan Maloney finished eighth in the A final of the men's K2 1000 (two-person racing kayak) at the European Championships in Racice, Czech Republic, on Saturday.
Hungary won in three minutes 9.703 seconds, while Ireland were timed at 3:15.879.
In yesterday's B final of the K2 500, which is also an Olympic event, Fleming and Maloney finished third, behind Croatia and France.
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