Liam Kenny Moves into Quarters ... Illingworth out

[Men's Main Draw]     [Women's Main Draw]

Few Surprises on Day One

number one Liam Kenny moved into the quarter finals of the Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open with a three games to one victory over England's Jonathon Harford. Liam looked extremely sharp in the first two games but seemed to lose his hold on the match in the third game as Harford increased the pace. Afterwards Kenny admitted he has played only a handful of competitive matches in the past six weeks. He won't be able to afford any lapses in concentration tomorrow as he faces the impressive third seed Mohd Azlan Iskander from Malaysia who beat Frenchman Romain Tenant in three nil in just 28 minutes.

In other action, round one of the Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open went largely with form as all the title contenders booked their places in the quarter finals. However, American fifth seed Julian Illingworth went out to a qualifier and Malaysia's Delia Arnold scored an upset to reach the quarter finals.

In the women's draw top seed and world number eight Vicky Botwright outclassed Ireland's Aisling Blake in round one. The Galway girl put up a good fight in the opening game losing out 9/6 but her English opponent eased through the next two to take the match three nil in 38 minutes. Defending champion Madeline Perry endured a shaky start to her title defence as she edged past England's Sarah Kippax in a tight five set match. At two one down in games, the Irish number one looked like she might make a surprise early exit at this year's Irish Open but she showed her experience to take the fourth and fifth games 9/4 9/3 and book her place in the quarter finals. Perry will have to pull out all the stops to continue her winning run, as she aims for her fourth successive Irish Open title, with second seed Alison Waters looking in fine form along with top seed Botwright. Waters eased through her match three nil against Vicky Hynes.

In the last two women's matches of the evening, Delia Arnold caused an upset in the rankings to beat fifth seeded Dutch pro Annelize Naude three games to one. The Malaysian world number 46 played a very solid match to win in 65 minutes. Last year's beaten finalist Jacklyn Hawkes came through a very tight match against England's Lauren Briggs winning 10/8, 10/9, 9/0 in 56 minutes.

In the men's, top seed and former world number one John White beat France's Julian Balbo three games to one in a tighter than expected opening round. He will now face England's Tom Richards who put in a fine performance to sweep aside number five seed Julian Illingworth from America. Defending champion, Alex Gough beat his Welsh counterpart Rob Sutherland three games to won. Also in fine form was England's Adrian Grant. The world number 14 is second seed in this year's event and looks like he is the man to beat as he eased past his Malaysian opponent in 37 minutes. However there was no fairytale story for Ireland's wildcard entry Arthur Gaskin. The Carlow man put up a good fight against world number 49, Australia's Aaron Frankcomb.  Gaskin showed some promise as he went close in each game but just couldn't capitalise at the crucial stages, losing three nil in a 52 minute match.

Men's Main Draw First Round Results
John White (SCO) (1) bt Julien Balbo (FRA) 3/1 {11/8, 10/11(1/3), 11/10(2/0), 11/9} 51 mins
Tom Richards (ENG) bt Julian Illingworth (USA) (5) 3/0 {11/9, 11/10(4/2), 11/7} 52 mins
Alex Gough (WAL) (4) V Rob Sutherland (WAL) 3/1 {11/6, 11/5, 1/11, 11/5} 46 mins
Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) (7) bt Arthur Gaskin (IRL) 3/0 {11/7, 11/8, 11/9) 52 mins
Liam Kenny (IRL) (8) bt Jonathon Harford (ENG) 3/1 {11/9, 11/5, 3/11, 11/6} 57 mins
Mohd Azlan Iskander (MAS) (3) bt Romain Tenant (FRA) 3/0 {11/8, 11/9, 11/1} 28 mins
Kashif Shuja (NZL) (6) bt Stacey Ross (ENG) 3/2 {3/11, 11/6, 5/11, 11/6, 11/9} 58 mins
Adrian Grant (ENG) (2) bt Mohammed Nafiizan Adnan (MAL) 3/0 {11/5, 11/7, 11/7} 37 mins

Women's Main Draw First Round Results
Vicky Botwright (ENG) (1) bt Aisling Blake (IRL) 3/0 (9/6, 9/0, 9/3) 38 mins
Samantha Teran (MEX) (8) bt Dominique Lloyd-Walter (ENG) 3/0 (9/3, 9/6, 9/5) 43 mins
Laura Lengthorn-Massaro (ENG) (3) bt Elise NG (HKG) 3/0 (9/2, 9/2, 9/2) 22 mins
Isabelle Stoehr (FRA) bt Fiona Moverly (ENG) 3/0 (9/2, 9/0, 9/4) 25 mins
Delia Arnold (MAS) bt Annelize Naude (NED) (5) 3/1 (9/7, 9/5, 2/9, 9/7) 65 mins
Madelaine Perry (IRL) (4) bt Sarah Kippax (ENG) 3/2 (9/4, 7/9, 4/9, 9/4, 9/3) 64 mins
Jacklyn Hawkes (NZL) (6) bt Lauren Briggs (ENG) 3/0 (10/8, 10/9, 9/00 56 Mins
Alison Waters (ENG) (2) bt Vicky Hynes (ENG) 3/0 (9/0, 9/0, 9/5)

 

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