A satisfying extended professional set against former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash on Monday, followed by a romp against local aspirant Feargal McDonough yesterday.

How well Irish Davis Cup player Owen Casey can cope with it all. Casey, the top seed, left Donnybrook in a hurry to watch France and Croatia last evening after decisively clinching his place in the quarter-finals of the Carlsberg Irish Close championships.

The question is not so much can Casey win the title on Saturday, as can he win it without dropping a set from the quarter-final stage.

It looks as though his remaining rivals will have the most difficult of tasks to extract a set from the on-form 28-year-old.

Robert Collins is his next opponent in tonight's quarter-finals and already the deputising number two seed, Peter Wright, holds out little hope of reaching the final.

George McGill is home from the University of Indiana to challenge for the title and he did well to squeeze by the obstinate challenge of David O'Connell in wet conditions last evening.

O'Connell just succumbed in a first set tie-break and doggedly held on, only to be broken for 6-4 in the second set.

David Mullins and Joe Green, two of Ireland's most promising young players of recent years look capable of producing the best match of the championships in tonight's quarters. A deeper insight into where Mullins and Green are going is at hand.

Meanwhile, the women's semi-finals are scheduled for this evening. Whatever about the possibility of an upset when number two seed Claire Curran sets out against Lesley O'Halloran, top seed Gina Niland seems very much on course for another final appearance with Yvonne Flynn standing in the way.