Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, an already injury-plagued David Lloyd Irish Open Indoor Men's Tennis Championship final saw John Doran conceding a walk-over to top seed Peter Clarke because of a stomach muscle complaint, writes Pat RocheIronically, Doran had reached the decider when his opponent, Stephen Nugent, was forced to retire with an ankle injury towards the end of a three-hour, semi-final battle on Sunday. The Dubliner was devastated and said afterwards: "Coming back from India to the cold climate here might well have caused it but during practice earlier I was really unable to stretch for my serves. I went out on court with little hope of being able to compete and when I tried a few serves I knew there was no point in starting the match," said Doran.
"I really feel awful about this, especially with so many people having turned up to watch," added Doran.
Top seed Yvonne Doyle, who has spent six of the past 12 months nursing injuries, claimed her fourth title in the women's championship. She took just under an hour to dismantle the challenge of Elsa O'Riain, the teenage holder from Cork, 6-4 6-1.
O'Riain lacked the necessary degree of composure, a virtue that ran deep in Doyle's game once she settled and changed her game plan.
"The pace was fast and puzzling at the start. I changed tactics and should have concentrated on getting the ball deep and across court. It should have been my game plan from the beginning," said Doyle.
First set highlight for O'Riain was a delicious lob to break Doyle in the seventh game en route to a deciding point win. She also won the only other deciding point in the set a game later. A remarkable net cord for Doyle, the ball seemed to climb over from six inches down, might have enabled the winner to close down the set but she was cruising in the second set.
Men's singles: Quarter-finals - P Clarke bt N Fagan 6-0 6-2; J Doran bt D O'Connell 6-3 6-1; S Nugent bt R Niland 6-0 6-4; C Niland bt N Malone 7-6 (7-2) 6-1. Semi-finals - Clarke bt Niland 6-2 6-1; Doran bt Nugent 4-6 7-6 (7-0) 4-5 retired. Final - Clarke bt Doran walk-over.
Women's singles: Quarter-finals - Y Doyle bt E Murphy 6-1 6-1; E O'Riain bt A Leonard 6-0 6-0; A M Hogan bt R Fagan 6-1 6-2; G Niland bt K Leonard 6-1 6-1. Semi-finals - Doyle bt Hogan 6-2 6-1. O'Riain bt Niland 3-6 6-3 6-4. Final - Doyle bt O'Riain 6-4 6-1.
Men's doubles: Semi-finals - Clarke and G McGill bt T Barry and F Lennon 5-7 6-3 6-2. N Fagan and G Kilduff bt Doran and Nugent walk-over. Final: Clarke and McGill bt Fagan and Kilduff 6-2 6-2.
World number one Martina Hingis has ended her doubles partnership with glamorous Russian Anna Kournikova. Hingis, currently competing in the Hopman Cup in Perth, will instead play doubles with American Monica Seles in the Australian Open in Melbourne this month. The split follows reports of a row.
Jan-Michael Gambill inspired the US to victory in their opening Hopman Cup match yesterday. After Monica Seles had given the US a 1-0 lead over the Slovak Republic in the group B encounter by beating Karina Habsudova 6-3 3-6 6-1, Gambill surprised Dominik Hrbaty 6-3 3-6 6-4 to seal a win in the best-of-three rubbers match. Gambill and Seles made it 3-0 by winning the mixed doubles.
