Daunting task for Irish duo

Irish Open:Louk Sorensen and Conor Niland will have to upset the seedings at the Shelbourne Irish Open at Fitzwilliam LTC today if they are to progress past the first round, having been drawn against French duo Nicolas Tourte and Gary Lugassy, the sixth and eighth seeds respectively.

Having played and lost to Lugassy three times in the last 18 months, without picking up a set, Niland's challenge is a daunting one, while Sorensen faces a man who, at 233, is 103 places above him in the world rankings.

Four other Irish players are already in the main draw with the qualifying stages due for completion this morning.

The draw for the $50,000 ATP event was no kinder to James McGee who faces third seed Alun Jones of Australia, one of just four men in the tournament with a current ranking inside the world's top 200. Dundalk's John McGahon meets American Brendan Evans, James Clusky plays Ti Chen from Chinese Taipei and former Irish number one Peter Clarke faces the unseeded Igor Sijsling (Holland).

Defending champion Mischa Zverev begins his title defence against Latvia's Andis Juska.

Wesley Moodie, who made history at Wimbledon in 2005 when he won the doubles with Stephen Huss having come through the pre-tournament qualifiers, has had to withdraw from the Irish Open because his 2007 Wimbledon challenge is still alive.

Play gets under way on centre court at 1.0pm today, with Clusky's match against Chen.Sorensen takes on Tourte to open the evening session at 6.30pm. Admission to the Open is free.