There was a great entry for the Fermanagh Open Tennis Tournament which began this week.
Sponsored by FloGas and the Manor House Country Hotel, play began last Saturday with a number of close fought matches. Players from Enniskillen, Omagh, Butt Hall, Cavan and Irvinestown made their way to the courts at the Bawnacre Centre in Irvinestown for this annual Open Tournament.
A number of first round B Men’s singles matches were decided which involved Ciaran Weber from Omagh who beat Clive Funston from Enniskillen 2/6 6/4 6/4. Another three setter saw Conor McShea from Enniskillen beat Gary Martin from Omagh 3/6 7/5 6/4. There was a good win for Liam McQuaid from Irvinestown who beat Freddie Lusson from Butt Hall 6/4 6/4. In the C Mens’ Singles Martin Quinn from Omagh had a convincing win over Irvinestown’s Steve Beaumont 6/2 6/0.
In the C Ladies Doubles, the number one seeds Sandra McElroy and Tanya Cathcart were up against Omagh players Georgia Stewart and Maeve Coney. They won the first set 6/3 but the Omagh duo came back strong in the second set to take it 6/4 and it was a close final set which saw the Irvinestown players come through 10/7 in a Championship tiebreak.
Another ladies doubles was also decided when Irvinestown’s Colleen McCusker and Catherine Taggart beating Maxine Leary and Moira McAdam from Enniskillen in straight sets 6/4 6/4. In the C Mixed doubles, the Omagh pairing of Maeve Coney and Darren Graham beat the seeded pairing of Catherine Taggart and David Lowe 7/6 6/1. In the B Men’s Doubles Pete Keogh and Liam McQuaid from Irvinestown played a solid match against John Ross Dundas and Josh Hannah from Enniskillen.
Monday night saw some of the A matches starting including Laura Griffin from Enniskillen beating Donna McSorley from Omagh in the Ladies Singles 6/2 4/6 6/3. The A Men’s singles saw Martin Garrity from Irvinestown beat Cathal Deehan from Omagh 6/1 6/1. The No 4 seed in the C Mens Singles was defeated by young Eoin Meade from Irvinestown 6/3 6/1.
Eoin then went to win his next match against Ben Griffin from Butt Hall 6/2 6/0. Later on in the evening the No 1 seed in the C Men’s singles, Brendan King from Irvinestown was defeated in three sets by Darren Graham from Omagh 4/6 6/3 6/2. In the B Ladies singles there was a marathon of a match between Rachel Logan from Omagh and Lauren Stead also from Omagh. The first set went to a tiebreak which Lauren won, Rachel then took the second set 6/0 and another tiebreak decided the match with Lauren coming out on top. In the B Men’s singles, the No.1 seed Bernard Griffin from Butt Hall had a decisive win against Ciaran Weber from Omagh 7/5 6/4.
There was also a win for the No 4 seed Ryan Cuthbertson from Omagh who beat Martin Fryer, City of Derry 7/5 6/0. Some of the last matches on court provided much excitement, in particular a Men’s Doubles between Henry Venzon and Freddie Lusson from Buttt Hall who had a close fought match against Enniskillen’s Donal Burns and Martin Fryer from City of Derry. It went down to a championship tie break with Henry and Freddie winning 7/6 3/6 12/10.
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