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Sam Barry and Daniel Glancy win on a better day for home contingent in Irish Open

Fourth and eighth seeds have comfortbale victories

Sam Barry: the fourth seed had a comfortable 6-3 6-2 victory over Germany’s Florian Barth. Photograph: Lorraine O’Sullivan/Inpho
Sam Barry: the fourth seed had a comfortable 6-3 6-2 victory over Germany’s Florian Barth. Photograph: Lorraine O’Sullivan/Inpho
Wed Jul 24 2013 - 01:00

The FBD Irish Tennis Open continued at Fitzwilliam LTC yesterday with victories for both Irish players in action. This proved a much needed boost for the home players as Colin O’Brien was the sole victor on Monday.

Sam Barry, seeded fourth, had a comfortable 6-3 6-2 victory over Germany's Florian Barth. The Limerick man was impressive throughout the match, displaying a nice mix of groundstrokes from the baseline along with serving and volleying occasionally to keep his opponent guessing. His forehand was also an important weapon as he moved Barth around the court before closing out the points.

Barry, who won the decisive rubber for Ireland in the Davis Cup earlier this year against Estonia, has improved significantly in the last year and looked in very good physical condition during yesterday’s match.

The 21-year-old is a realistic challenger for the title and plays qualifier Benjamin Lock of Zimbabwe in the next round. He has been in very consistent form this year, reaching four quarter-finals and two semi-finals on The ITF Futures Circuit.

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Eighth seed Daniel Glancy also had a comfortable victory, beating Zach Itzstein of Austria 6-4 6-2. The first set was a tight affair, with Glancy's break of serve in the third game proving the decisive moment.

The second set was close early on before the Mayo man rattled off the last four games to take the set and the match.

Glancy was consistent throughout, with his excellent groundstrokes proving a key difference between the players.

The 24-year-old will play Alexander Jhun of Britain in the next round who beat Ireland’s Robert Dudley on Monday. Glancy has also been in good form this year, reaching four quarter-finals and the semi-finals of an ITF Futures event in Denmark last week.

He also made his Davis Cup debut earlier in the year, becoming the first Mayo man to play for Ireland, winning his singles match against Finland.

Top seed Albano Olivetti of France beat Bruce Strachan 6-4, 6-4. Olivetti, who has beaten former world number 10 Mardy Fish in the past, served very well and broke the British player once in each set to take the match.

The only seed to lose was seventh seed Lorenzo Frigerito who lost to France’s Maxime Tchoutakian in straight sets.

In the doubles tournament, there was an all Irish clash as Colin O’Brien and John Morrissey overcame Peter Bothwell and Julien Bradley 7-5,6 - 3 in a highly entertaining contest.