Bothwell cruises into second round

TENNIS

PETER BOTHWELL sealed his path to the second round of the Irish Open yesterday at the Carrickmines Club when beating Sweden’s Niklas Johanssson a 6-4, 6-4.

The 22-year-old Co Down man now faces Joel Cannell in the last-16 stage, after the Briton’s 6-1, 6-3 winner over France’s Paul Cayet, in what will be the first contest between the two adversaries.

Meanwhile, in the women’s competition, 18-year-old Dubliner Jennifer Timotin, from the Castleknock Club, also advanced to the second round after dismissing her US opponent Mary Closs on a 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) margin after and hour and 18 minutes.

SAILING

WITH 40pc of nation places at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games up for grabs, the Hempel Sailing World Championships begins racing today at Aarhus, Denmark.

A total of 14 Irish sailors will be in action over the coming week in four events. Just two sailors in the line-up are Olympic veterans while the remainder mark the newest and youngest generation of contenders.

London and Rio veteran Ryan Seaton, from Ballyholme, is now paired with Seafra Guilfoyle of the Royal Cork YC in the 49er skiff class which begins its series on Saturday. Carlow native Finn Lynch, from the National YC, begins his series tomorrow while Liam Glynn (Ballyholme) will also be of interest to spectators.

Howth’s Aoife Hopkins and Lough Derg’s Aisling Keller seek qualification in the women’s laser radial as Fionn Lyden or Oisín McClelland seek an Olympic place in the Finn Class.