Madeline Perry only surrendered 14 points in defending her Irish Open Title, photo © Fitzwilliam Club.

Madeline Perry, number 1 seed defended her Cannon Kirk Irish Open title with a convincing win over number 2 seed, Laura Lenghtorn of England.

Perry began the match tentatively going 7/4 down in the opening set, Perry upped the pace and never looked back and raced on to a 3/0 victory. Perry, now ranked 9 in the world rankings has gone to a different level and one can see her going even further in the next year in world rankings. Her speed about the court, her deadly nick shots especially when she is in front of the court, make her a daunting opponent.

Madeline Perry concludes a long road trip with a win © Fitzwilliam Club.

The Women’s World Championships in Belfast in November this year will provide a great opportunity for Madeline to shine in front of a home crowd and is something to relish.

The men’s semi finals on Saturday evening, each lasted almost 2 hours, provided a final contested by the number 3 seed Davide Bianchetti of Italy who beat the number one seed, Renan Lavigne, having come from 2/0 down, Bianchetti went on to win 3/2 . The other finalist today was Borja Golan of Spain the number 4 seed. He too had a long 5 set semi-final to beat the number 2 seed, Simon Parke in a close 5 set match.

 Golan has won the last 13 matches in fourteen finals he has contested and was a red hot favourite for today’s game. He had beaten Bianchetti on 3 of the last 4 outings and most recently in the Italian Open in November.

Golan appeared the fresher of the 2 and took the first set 11/5. In the second Bianchetti found his rhythm and managed to take a 10/6 lead, Golan came back to make it 10-10 but finally lost that set on a tie-breaker..

A re-focused Golan stormed to a 2/1 lead ,taking the third set 11/2.

The fourth game was a point by point contest. Golan took a 10-9 lead with a timely executed drop and took the match on his first attempt forcing a conduct point from Bianchetti.

Golan, a young man of 23 is one to watch for the future and has promised to return and defend his first Cannon Kirk Irish title next year.

Womens’ Final
[1] Madeline Perry (IRL) bt [2]Laura Lengthorn (ENG)
9/7, 9/3, 9/4 (55 Minutes)

Mens’ Final
[1]Borja Golan (ESP) bt [2] Davide Bianchetti (ITA)11/5, 10/11 (4/2), 11/2, 11/9 (72 Minutes)

Borje Golan (right) defeated Davide Bianchetti in the men's final in Dublin , photo © Fitzwilliam Club.