Owen Casey retired from the competitive circuits two years ago, but he can still turn the tables on visiting touring players with respectable world rankings.
He again showed his competitive instincts at Riverview yesterday when he beat Israel's Amir Hadad, ranked more than 500 places above him, 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the ITF's Futures event sponsored by Tretorn.
"I served well and cut errors down to a minimum," said casey. He broke Hadad's serve three times and following each break Hadad indulged in a spot of racquet abuse for which he was lucky to escape a warning.
The accomplished Brazilian Daniele Melo, the number three seed, now stands between Casey and a semi-final place.Singles - second round (Irish in bold): D Bracciali (It) bt R Collins 6-0, 6-4; L Milligan (Brit) bt J Gooding (Aus) 6-4, 6-4; S Iwabuchi (Jpn) bt R Brooks (Brit) 6-2, 6-2; A Qureshi (Pak) bt J Crabb (Aus) 6-7, 6-3, 7-5; O Casey bt A Hadad (Isr) 6-4, 6-2; D Melo (Bra) bt M Gotti (Ita) 7-6, 6-4; P Langvardt (Den) bt N Wellgreen (Isr) 6-2, 6-3; J Doran bt S Cooper 6-4, 6-4.Doubles - semi-finals: Bracciali and Igor Gaudi (It) bt A Laporte (Fra) and A Qureishi (Pak) 6-4, 6-7, 6-3; Hadad and J Erlich (Isr) bt Melo and A Prieto (Bra) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.Ireland's Gina Niland reached the quarterfinals of the Portuguese satellite circuit in Azemeis yesterday when she beat Finland's Hanna Puustinen 6-2, 6-2.Squash:Irish squash champion Derek Ryan won through to the second round of the Libertel Open in Maastricht yesterday after an epic five-set victory over former world champion Rodney Eyles.Ryan won the first set of the 80 minute match with ease (15-4), but the experienced Australian rallied to take a 2-1 lead. The Dubliner responded by winning a close fourth game and dug deep to snatch the decider 15-13. It was only the second time that Ryan, ranked 10th in the world, had beaten Eyles, the first win coming in the Kuwait Open last October.Libertel Open (at Maastricht) - First round: D Ryan (Ire) bt R Eyles (Aus) 15-4, 1015, 12-15, 15-11, 15-13.Boxing: Shea Neary made a nostalgic visit to his father's home town yesterday to publicise his own defence of his World Boxing Union light-welterweight title. The bout will be staged at the National Stadium on the South Circular Road in Dublin on June 19th with a supporting bill featuring five other professional boxers from Dublin led by Michael Carruth.Neary will meet Mike Griffith from Ohio on the Dublin bill after putting together 21 successful professional fights including four successful defences of the title which he won by beating Daryl Tyson in October of 1996.
