TENNIS IRISH OPEN:DUBLIN TEENAGER John Morrissey announced his arrival on the senior stage in a big way by recording a shock victory in the first round of the Green Property Irish Men's Open, at the Fitzwilliam Club, yesterday.
Morrissey, who had previously taken part in only two adult world ranking events, headed into his match against Georgia’s Lazare Kukhalashvili as a rank outsider, with his Dublin-based opponent possessing a world ranking of 1,235.
But the 17-year-old showed tremendous composure and confidence and from an early stage it was very apparent that he was really up for the challenge against Kukhalashvili, who practises at Tennis Ireland’s National Training Centre in DCU.
An early service break in the opening set was just the fillip that the Blackrock lad, who has a world under-18 ranking of 60, needed and he proceeded to put Kukhalashvili on the back foot for most of the contest before emerging an emphatic 6-2, 6-3 winner.
As a result of his success, Donnybrook club member Morrissey, who received a wild card into the main draw, picked up his first senior world ranking point, and he will enter the world ladder at approximately 1,441, when the rankings are updated next Monday.
Tomorrow, Morrissey takes on either the number four seed, Belgium’s Alexandre Foie, or France’s Simon Cauvard, who meet today.
Irish Davis Cup player James McGee joined Morrissey in the next round, registering a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Australian qualifier Matthew Barton. But James Cluskey, who partnered Barry King in the doubles rubber in the Davis Cup clash against Lithuania 10 days ago, bowed out of the tournament.
The Swords man was at almost 500 places deficit in the world rankings – 1677 to 1180 – against Dutch qualifier Xander Spong, but encouragingly he raced through the first set, dropping just one game.
Spong did likewise in the second set, but the decider was balanced on a knife-edge, the visiting player needing to go to a tie-break before prevailing on a 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) scoreline.
Today, Carlow’s Tommy Murphy, who won two matches in qualifying to clinch a main draw place, takes on Malta’s Matthew Asciak. Mayo man Daniel Glancy faces easily the most difficult test of the Irish quartet today – King and Colin O’Brien are also in action – being drawn against the top seed, Britain’s Joshua Goodall.
