Day Two at the FBD Men's Irish Open was a happy one for the Irish as two players progressed to the quarter-finals of the singles event at Fitzwilliam. The first man through was Limerick's Sam Barry, who recorded a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Britain's Julian Cash.
Barry combined an excellent serving display with some powerful ground stroke hitting to wear down his British opponent and ultimately advance to the next round.
Meeting him there will be the Dan Evans, who has had multiple wins in Grand Slam events. This, the pick of the quarter-final matches, will take place at 12pm Thursday.
Joining Barry in the quarter-finals will be fellow Irish player Bjorn Thomson. Thomson, who at only 17 years of age is rated as one of Ireland's top prospects, is currently training at the IMG Academy in Florida, on a full scholarship.
In progressing to the quarter-finals, Thomson demonstrated just why he is rated so highly, as he dismantled the tournament’s number one seed, Hugo Nys of France.
Throughout the match, Nys thought he had done enough to win the point only for Thomson to chase the ball down and force him into starting his attack all over again.
The Frenchman ultimately cut a dejected figure when he left the court while Thomson walked off elated, knowing that his game had reached the point where he was now very comfortable at senior level.
Encouraging performance
Thomson next faces Jamie Whiteford of Britain, in a match that is very winnable for the a young Irishman.
There was also an encouraging performance from Co Down's Peter Bothwell who battled hard with talented Frenchman Mick Lescure, ranked over 500 places above him in the current ATP world rankings.
After a first set, Bothwell was unfortunate to lose the set in a tiebreak, 7-6. While he continued to battle hard in the second set, the Frenchman’s extra experience ultimately won out, and he eventually won the second set by six games to two.
