Niland continues good form

TENNIS - FRENCH OPEN QUALIFYING:CONOR NILAND, the Irish number one, continued a rich run of form when he won his opening match in the qualifying tournament for Roland Garros yesterday.

Following on from his tournament win in the Israel Open just over a week ago, Niland, ranked at 169 in the world, beat Britain’s 161-ranked Alex Bogdanovic in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, in one hour and 27 minutes.

Niland needs to win three matches on the clay in order to qualify for the main singles draw of the French Open proper, which begins on Sunday. He has never qualified for the main draw in a Grand Slam event before but is now at his highest ever ranking and has been consistently beating players higher up the ATP ranking ladder. Niland and Louk Sorensen, who lost his first round qualifying match, are both in Paris with Tennis Ireland coach Gary Cahill.

Niland held his nerve on the big points and converted four of the 10 service break points he won with the British left-hander converting only two from eight, or 25 per cent. Bogdanovic also struggled on first serve, winning a mere 56 per cent.

Niland now meets Germany’s Julian Reister in the second round. Reister came through against Italy’s Filippo Volandri in three sets, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1. The 24-year-old is ranked just three places higher than Niland at 166 in the world but was up as high as 149 in September of last year.

The scalp of the 121-ranked Italian will give the German confidence although Niland is not short on that asset either.

Sorensen, who has recently come back into the game after a long spell out with injury,departed in two sets, 7-6, 6-4 to Argentina’s Jose Acasuso.

The 10th seed Acasuso, ranked at 117 in the world to Sorensen’s 209, took 58 minutes to win the first set 9-7 in a tie break before breaking Sorensen’s serve just once for 6-4 in the second set.