TENNIS: Ireland are certain of having a player in tomorrow's final of the ITF's Ellesse Women's Irish Open at Castleknock thanks to a giant-killing feat by wildcard entry Karen Nugent and the fine play of Cork's Elsa O Riain. Pat Roche reports.
Prospects of an all-Irish final were dashed by the draw, which ordains that Nugent and O Riain meet in the first of the semi-finals today.
More than anyone else in the event, Nugent is a revelation, if only for her facility to make a mockery of the world rankings. In the three rounds so far played she has numbered the defending champion and top seed among her victims.
Moments after losing out to the gifted Dubliner yesterday, Britain's Amanda Janes, the top seed and daughter of British tennis icon Christine Truman, said: "What amazes me about Karen is her ranking. If she played like that every day she'd be in the top 50 in no time."
Nugent's astute game saw off the Janes challenge in just over an hour and a half, 6-4 6-3. It was another demonstration of Nugent's ability to quickly analyse opponents' weaknesses.
She said afterwards: "I knew she only had a slice return on her backhand and she would never pass me with it so I gave her plenty of work to do out of the backhand court."
Nugent also showed greater agility in getting into the forecourt for winning volleys and overheads. "Nothing went right for me, but Karen is a right good player," said left-hander Janes.
Janes bravely saved first-set points with aces. After losing out to some impeccable placement by the Dubliner, who grows in confidence by the minute, Janes briefly threatened a fight-back when breaking serve to love in the first game of the second set. Nugent broke back to set the pattern for a remarkable sequence of service breaks, seven in all.
O Riain took an hour and 12 minutes to dismiss the Spanish entry, Paula Fondevila Castro, in straight sets. O Riain's stronger service game was a huge factor. In all her service games she dropped an aggregate of only 10 points. She leads Nugent 3-2 in head-to-heads for this year.
Australian Nicole Kris, who possesses pounding forehands of great consistency, halted Timea Bacsinszky. "I made the mistake of relaxing too much after winning the first set," said the talented 14-year-old Swiss. Kris faces New Zealander Eden Marama in the second semi-final.
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