Sinead Lohan during her National Indoor Championship final victory against Lynsey McCullough (© Kevin O'Brien)
Sinéad Lohan was the sole Irish representative in week one action as she carried her fine end of year domestic form on to the international U-18 junior circuit.
The 16-year finished 2011 by winning the senior National Indoor Championships and continued her winning streak in the ITF Grade 3 Junior event in Pontreveda, Galicia, where she took out top seed Ksenija Sharifova of Russia before eventually bowing out to American Alexandria Stiteler in the semi-finals.
Lohan begins 2012 season the season with junior ranking of 256 and will jump to around 190 on the back of her solid showing in Spain.
Conor Niland, meanwhile, became one of dozens of players to get scuppered by the surprisingly high cut off for the qualifying draw in Doha and will head for Melbourne without any competitive matches under his belt as a result.
However, he feels that he feels his preparation for the trip down under in the Qatar capital was more than adequate.
And more importantly, assuming the final Australian Open wildcard place goes to Greg Jones or Chris Guccione, then Niland currently needs just one more withdrawal to make the qualifying draw in Melbourne.
“I’m going to go to Melbourne anyway,” Niland told the Irish Times.
“Play starts on Wednesday 11th and while it would have been nice to get a match or two here in Doha, I’ve been practising with guys who are 60 and 70 in the world – guys like Grega Zemlja, who plays Federer here tonight.
“It’s good because it’s about 25 degrees and it’s windy. I’ve played a couple of matches in Melbourne and it will be really, really windy and could be very hot.”
With options on the ITF and Challenger circuit limited to far flung locations of New Caledonia, Brazil and China, James McGee and James Cluskey were among those who sensibly opted for another week of training.
Cluskey headed for the Costa del Sol and the plush surroundings of the SotoTennis Academy, while McGee spent his time in the UK where he worked with Greg Rusedski among others.
With their mysterious forfeit row rumbling on, some time apart was probably just what they needed but judging by their twitter exchanges, they found it incredibly tough.
McGee’s jealously is palpable and Cluskey was clearly rubbing his new bromance in his Davis Cup teammate’s face.
They will be in Glasgow together this week so let’s hope their lovers’ tiff has ended by then before it escalates further and tears Irish tennis apart. There are matches to be won.
Shank Tennis 