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Conor Niland impresses in Israel
LIMERICK tennis-pro Conor Niland has reached a career high-ranking with impressive performances in the Israel Open.
The 28 year old Mungret man has climbed to 222nd place in the latest ATP rankings on the back of successive wins $100,000 tournament in Ramat Hasharon, Israel.
This Thursday evening Niland was to play home favourite Harel Levy in the quarter-final of the ATP Challenger Tour event.
Levy scored a 6-4 3-6 6-4 win over American Alex Bogomolov Junior.
Niland reached the last eight with a three sets win over the former world number five, Rainer Schuettler from Germany in a nail-biting match lasting a marathon two hours and 31 minutes.
The Limerick man beat the third seed, and former Grand Slam finalist, on a scoreline of: 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
The German, seeded three in Israel, has an impressive record at Grand Slams having reached the final of the 2003 Australian Open (where he was defeated by Andre Agassi) while in 2008 he reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon, losing to the eventual champion Rafael Nadal.
Niland took the opening set 7-5 but the former world number five fought back to take the second 6-4.
But it was Niland who progressed taking the final set 6-4.
After sharing the first two sets, the Limerick native held his composure in the decider, and two breaks of serve to Schuettler's one saw him prevail on a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 margin.
After this week's competition in Israel, Niland will start his final preparations for the French Open.
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Weather for Limerick
Tuesday 07 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 7 C to 10 C
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