Doran races to impressive victory

As the pace stepped up in the battle for favourable positions during last night's Dolmen Irish Men's Open championship at Templeogue…

As the pace stepped up in the battle for favourable positions during last night's Dolmen Irish Men's Open championship at Templeogue, closely observed by the seeded players from home and abroad, Dubliner Gareth Doran was among the outsiders to make the breakthrough.

Teenager Doran is a younger brother of Davis Cup player John, and he fairly raced through his match in the round of 16 to oust Barry Fagan, another promising junior from the national squad.

Doran was quite deadly off the ground to complete a comprehensive 6-2 6-0 win.

If Doran's performance augured well for his chances of a good run in the championship, James Smith, the unseeded British entry, turned in an equally impressive showing when defeating Bernard Keenan, 6-1 6-0. Peter Allott, the Australian International Tennis Federation-ranked doubles player, made significant progress defeating Conor Taylor.

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Rachel Halligan, who lost last week's Irish Junior Open final despite been up a set and leading 5-2 against Clodagh McMorrow, suffered another setback in last night's Leinster Open being staged in conjunction with the main event.

Men's Irish Open: Third round - G Doran bt B Fagan 6-2 6-0; B King bt B Condren 6-4 6-2; P Allott bt C Taylor 6-3 6-2; J Smith bt B Keenan 6-1 6-0; S Taylor bt N Keeling 6-1 6-3; G Kilduff bt L Cassidy 3-1 retired.

Women's Leinster Senior Open: Third round - A White bt R Halligan 6-2 6-2; A Leonard bt J Johnston 6-2 6-0; K O'Flynn bt R Byrne 62 6-1; S McIntyre bt L O'Reilly 7-5 6-2.