TENNIS:JAMES McGEE yesterday underlined he has fully recovered from his recent illness when he comfortably secured a second-round place in the ITF Futures Irish Men's Open at the Fitzwilliam Club.
The 24-year-old Dubliner was unable to line out in the doubles rubber for Ireland in the Davis Cup relegation play-off win over Tunisia the weekend before last with a stomach bug contracted the previous week in Morocco.
And he did not make a return to hitting action until the pre-Irish Open Pro-Am event last Wednesday at Fitzwilliam.
But the Castleknock man showed he had lost little of his match sharpness and physical condition when romping to a 6-1, 6-4 win over Britain’s Stefan Sterland-Markovic (19), in this third-tier world ranking event.
The 1,210 ranking places gap between the two players – 512 to 1,727 – was frequently manifest during the 66
minute
contest as number-seven seed McGee comfortably held his own serve while his opponent was regularly under pressure on his own delivery.
A service return winner was always on the cards once the British player didn’t get his first serve in, and so it was no surprise McGee broke twice in the opening set and once in the second en route to his convincing victory.
Earlier, Greystones man Mark Bowtell pulled off a shock 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 victory over another Briton, Neal Skupski in a battle between two 21-year-olds.
The visiting player entered the match as a hot favourite to nail down a second-round place, as he has a world ranking of 947, while Bowtell is a tennis scholarship student in the US, and so gets mimimal opportunity to take part in world ranking events.
Bowtell, whose younger sister Amy plays regularly on the ITF Women’s Circuit, dug deep in the decider and two breaks to one saw him through to the last 16.
IRISH MENS OPEN(at Fitzwilliam LTC, Dublin) – Singles First Round: (4) M Look (Aus) bt O Hudson (Bri) 6-3 6-7 (6 and 8) 6-3; M Short (Bri) bt D Pel (Ned) 3-6 7-6 (10 and 8) 7-5; C Fitzgerald (Irl) bt K Oakley (Bri) 1-6 6-4 6-2; (7) J McGee (Irl) bt S Sterland-Markovic (Bri) 6-1 6-4; E Firmin (Fra) bt J Miller (Bri) 6-7 (7 and 1), 7-6 (8 and 6) 6-3; R Gabb (Bri) bt (3) C Eaton (Bri) 7-6 (7 and 1) 6-1; (5) F Martin (Fra) bt H-D Meehan (Bri) 6-4 6-4; M Bowtell (Irl) bt N Skupski (Bri) 6-4 5-7 6-3. Doubles First Round: (4) M Look (Aus) and R Roelofse (Rsa) bt L Byrne (Irl) and F Molle (Irl) 6-1 6-3; M Carpenter (Irl) and D Glavin (Irl) bt M Bowtell (Irl) and J Morrissey (Irl) 5-7 6-2 10-8 (champions' tie-break); (3) D Glancy (Irl) and M Mecir (Svk) bt A Bettink (Nzl) and S Sterland-Markovic (Brit) 6-2 6-7 13-11 (champions' tie-break); (2) J Cluskey (Irl) and J McGee (Irl) bt S Cauvard (Fra) and E Rousset (Fra) 6-1 6-1.
