TENNIS DAVIS CUP:AFTER ALL the brouhaha surrounding Louk Sorensen's participation in this year's Australian Open, it rests with Conor Niland to really kick-start Ireland's Davis Cup tie against Turkey at Fitzwilliam today.
Niland, ranked 241 in the world, has been paired against the Turkish number one and world 121, Marsel Ilhan, in the second match of today’s singles pairings. First up on the indoor court, the 226-ranked Sorensen faces number 1,192 Haluk Akkoyun.
The 6ft 3in right-hander Ilhan, a professional since 2006, has been steadily climbing the rankings for the past two years. His preference is for hard court and his requirement this weekend is to force the matches to go with the rankings, in which case Turkey would win two of the four singles matches in the hope of toughing it out in what would be a deciding doubles rubber.
But as both Niland and Sorensen pointed out yesterday, they believe they can beat any higher-ranked player on any given day and their work schedule of playing tournaments around the world regularly pits them against higher-ranked players.
A win over Ilhan would be a massive achievement for both Niland and the team, who know they go into the match as favourites. If the rubbers indeed go according to the rankings then the doubles partnership of Barry King and James McGee on day two will be pivotal to the outcome.
“There’s a bit of a buzz this year that hasn’t been there in the past,” said Niland. “There is a level of interest that there hasn’t been. There’s also the carrot of playing Britain.”
That carrot is a probable meeting in Dublin if both sides win their opening matches but Ireland captain Sean Sorensen as cautions against looking beyond Turkey.
“I think both Louk and Conor can beat their number one,” he said. “Because of ranking and results he (Ilhan) is favoured but because it is a home match, I think that will tip it.
“Everyone on the team would look forward to playing Britain in Dublin. But we need to win three matches against Turkey first.”
An additional edge for Ireland is that both Sorensen and Niland have beaten Ilhan in the past, Sorensen two years ago and Niland in Istanbul last September, both of the matches over three sets.
“It’s okay for me,” said Ilhan. “I play in big tournaments, the Australian Open. The first match I played against Sorensen was two years ago and last year too against Niland. They were two close matches and I lost. But now I have a better ranking.
“Of course I have improved. Two years ago I played Futures and Challengers. Now just ATP tournaments.”
That Tennis Ireland has sold out all three days says something about how Irish fans have been starved of success and how they take notice when a recognisable level of performance has been reached.
It is also something new for Irish tennis that between 750 and 800 people would gobble up tickets outside of the regular Irish summer tennis season. For that reason Ireland will certainly gain the lion’s share of support this weekend but will also come under close scrutiny to perform and succeed with many more people watching.
Today:(Day 1) Davis Cup, Fitzwilliam 4pm: Louk Sorensen (Ire) v Haluk Akkoyun (Tur); Conor Niland (Ire) v Marsel Ilhan (Tur).
