Only injury has denied Owen Casey of a record sequence of consecutive final appearances in the Irish Open Indoor Tennis Championships.

Having been the most dominant Irish player of the decade he now aims to add to his laurels by regaining the title from a third seeding position, which is an unusual position for him.

Last evening at Riverview he won his second round match as easily as his first by denying the challenge of Stephen O'Connor 6-2 6-1. He now seems certain of a semi-final clash with his great rival Scott Barron.

Barron hopes to retain a title he won last year in a tremendous struggle with Casey. Retaining the title would go some way to compensating him for his many injuries over the past 12 months.

He hit the ball with too much conviction for David King with the tie being decided under the hour.

The number four seed Sean Cooper dismissed the plucky challenge of Ronan Kernan 6-3 63; Cooper's power off the ground and on serve had a major bearing on the result.

Highly ranked world junior Stephen Nugent went up a gear to put Colin O'Brien under all sorts of pressure before securing victory with the loss of only a single game.

And Stephen Taylor, one of two brothers in the event, posted a convincing 6-1 6-2 win at the expense of David Cooney.

Top-seeded United States pair Monica Seles and Justin Gimelstob have withdrawn from the Hopman Cup mixed teams tennis tournament starting in Perth on Saturday.