O’Hare on fire at Wicklow LTC Open
IRELAND Davis Cup star David O’Hare claimed a stunning hattrick of titles in the recent finals of the tennis annual Co Wicklow LTC Open.
O’Hare, who has been sidelined from the professional tour since last January owing to an ankle ligament injury, came up trumps in the men’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles events at the Bray club.
In the singles competition, the top-seeded Churchtown lad overcame the No 2 seed, 18-year-old Thomas Brennan from the Carrickmines club, on a 6-4 6-2 margin, and in the men’s doubles he partnered Ciaran Fitzgerald, from the Greystones club, to a 6-3 6-3 victory against Stephen Martin and Rory Rees Brennan.
And the former doubles world No 112 rounded off his title treble when he teamed up with Susan McCrann for a 6-0 6-3 success against Matthew Naughton and Heather Naughton.
Unlike the men’s singles final, the women’s singles decider produced a shock result, when 17-year-old Ellie Murphy, from the Shankill club, romped to a 6-3 6-4 victory over the top seed, Jennifer Timotin, from the Castleknock club, who has played in a number of tournaments on the women’s professional circuit and held a singles world ranking of 1,121 in May this year.
Interestingly, local fans also got something to cheer about when a number of Co Wicklow LTC members captured titles in the graded events.
In this regard, the Woods family particularly stood out, with Mark and his son Matthew being successful in the Grade 2 men’s doubles, and Mark’s wife Sinead proving supreme in the Grade 4/5 women’s singles events.
And additional home successes were recorded by Karl Smith, who competed in, and completed, the recent Greystones triathlon, in the Grade 4/5 men’s singles, and by first cousins Caroline Blennerhasset and Jennifer O’Neill in the Grade 6/7 women’s doubles.
As well as participants from all over the Greater Dublin area, a number of non-native players took part in the Open Week, and the international dimension of the tournament was particularly highlighted when Nuno Duarte, from Portugal, and Arkadiusz Fechner, from Poland, faced each other in the semi-finals of the Grade 4/5 men’s doubles, Nuno prevailing on a 6-1 1-6 7-6 scoreline.
Unfortunately, finals day on Saturday was marred by persistent rain, but despite the inclement weather the occasion lacked nothing in terms of atmosphere or entertainment level owing to the fact that a sizeable number of people still braved the elements and that a high quality of the tennis was served up by all the participants.
Co Wicklow LTC Tretorn Open, Bray - Men’s Singles Championship final: (1) David O’Hare bt (2) Thomas Brennan 6-4 6-2.
Men’s Singles Cl 2/3 final: Ciaran Crowe bt Nikita Polakovs 6-4 7-6.
Men’s Singles Cl 4/5 final: Karl Smith bt Nuno Duarte 7-5 6-2.
Men’s Singles Cl 6/7 final: Stephen Doyle bt Declan Kelly 6-1 6-3.
Men’s Doubles Championship final: Ciaran Fitzgerald/David O’Hare bt Stephen Martin/Rory Rees-Brennan 6-0 6-3.
Men’s Doubles Cl 2/3 final: Mark Woods/Matthew Woods bt Daniel Barnett/David English 6-2 6-4.
Men’s Doubles Cl 4/5 final: Nuno Duarte/Greg O’Sullivan bt Colin Campbell/Gavin Dodd 6-1 6-3.
Men’s Doubles Cl 6/7 final: Declan Kelly/Bryan Walshe bt Graham Healy/John Stephenson 6-3 3-6 10/2
Women’s Singles Championship final: (2) Ellie Murphy bt (1) Jennifer Timotin 6-3 6-4.
Women’s Singles Cl 2/3 final: Rachel Delaney bt Louise Monahan 6-1 6-4.
Women’s Singles Cl 4/5 final: Sinead Woods bt Lynn Acheson 6-4 6-1.
Women’ Singles Cl 6/7 final: Danielle Donohue bt Jennifer O’Neill 6-0 6-4.
Women’s Doubles Cl 2/3 final: Sheena Gogarty/Therese Ryan bt Anne Byrne/Emir Kavanagh 6-3 6-3.
Women’s Doubles Cl 4/5 final: Bernie Flynn/Therese Ryan bt Siobhan Carrig/Cathy Quinn 6-3 6-4.
Women’s Doubles Cl 6/7 final: Caroline Blennerhassett/Jennifer O’Neill bt Miriam Egan/Bernie Penston 6-3 4-6 10/6.
Women’s O-35 Doubles final: Fyonna Cunningham/Linda Lawlor bt Ailish Byrne/Annette Kent 6-2 6-2.
Mixed Doubles Championship final: David O’Hare/Susan McRann bt Matthew Naughton/ Heather Naughton 6-0 6-3.
Mixed Doubles Cl 3/4 final: Garrett Smyth/Sinead Mulligan bt Nick Cahill Blanaid McCarthy 7-5 6-2.
Mixed Doubles Cl 5/6 final: Michael Hurley/Alison Coyne bt Martin Kinirons/Gail Dempsey 6-4 6-3.
Mixed Doubles Cl 7 final: Bryan Walshe/ Rachel Donovan bt Declan Quinn/Gaye Moffat 6-1 6-4.