Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Wimbledon dream dashed

THE Wimbledon dream is over for another year for Conor Niland.
Limerick’s professional tennis star suffered a heart-breaking 6-3, 1-6, 8-6 loss to English teenager Dan Cox at yesterday’s Wimbledon qualifying tournament at Roehampton.
The Limerick 27-year-old is ranked 271 in the world and is currently Ireland’s No. 1 ranked player.


Niland lost the first set to the 18-year-old 6-3, but recovered in style to win the second set 6-1.
Niland then raced into a 4-2 third set lead, but Cox battled back to deny the Limerickman in two hours and 16 minutes.
Ireland’s top tennis player only discovered over the weekend that he would be playing in the qualifying tournament. Sixty four places were available in the tournament, with just 16 places on offer in the All-England Club.
Last year Niland also failed to progress beyond the first round when accepting a late call-up to face Austrian Martin Fischer.

Jerome O’Connell

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