CONOR O'CALLAGHAN of Ballinlough Cork, set the Dunlop Irish Open junior tennis championships alight at Fitzwilliam yesterday with a wonderful performance.
Mark O'Neill, the number five seed, felt the brunt of the Munster boy's resilience in the final set which went to a 16th game.
It would have been a longer marathon than the two hours it took to complete but for an incongruous second set, won to love by O'Neill, who appeared to have turned the corner at that stage.
The first set tie break had taken its toll on O'Callaghan, but he fully revived his admirable game in the thrilling final set to take the match 7-6 6-0 9-7.
The inconsistent patterns at this level was also reflected in the score by which Derek Fluskey ousted Jamie Black 0-6 7-6 6-1. But the top seed Mark Finnegan was predictably more decisive when affording James Neylon only two games. Even more authoritative was top girls junior seed Catherine Lynch.
Stephen Taylor, the top seed in the intermediate singles also came through convincingly.
While multi ITF winner Claire Curran is the outright favourite to lift the girls under 18 singles title the corresponding boys event is not so clear cut with David Mullins Sean Cooper, Nick Malone and Gareth Kilduff in the prime positions.
