Niland roars up the ATP ranks
Published Date:
13 August 2008
By Brian McDonnell
Conor Niland soared up to 229th in the world this week when the Limerick man secured his first ever ATP Challenger Tour victory in a $50,000 event in New Delhi, India on Saturday afternoon.
Niland won the final in straight sets (6-4, 6-4) against the Czech Republic's Tomas Cakl. In the semi-finals Niland beat Australian Brydan Klein (6-4, 6-7, 6-3) while at the quarter-final stage the Limerick Lawn Tennis Club star saw off the challenge of tournament top seed Danai Udom-choke (Thailand) 6-1, 5-7, 6-3.
In the second round of the tournament Niland beat Japan's Tasuku Iwami 6-1, 7-5 while in the first round Serbia's David Savic took the ever-improving Niland to three sets (6-1, 5-7, 6-2).
While there was heartbreak for Niland on Tuesday afternoon, when the Irish tennis star lost his first round clash against Italy's Riccardo Ghedin (6-4, 5-7, 4-6) in another ATP Challenger Tour event in New Delphi, Conor is well on his way to achieving his goal of finishing inside the top 200 in the world this year.
In fact Niland, speaking to Leader Sport this week, has described his victory in India as the 'biggest win' of his career.
"This win is definitely the biggest of my career so far," Conor explained from his hotel in New Delphi.
"After winning in India I'm now ranked 229th in the world and as a result I'll be seeded in some of the upcoming Challenger events - I'll play on the Challenger Tour for the rest of the year and hopefully I can reach my target of breaking 200 - this win has given me a great platform to work from for the rest of the year.
"I was disappointed to lose against (Riccardo) Ghedin, but I felt very tired and I suppose the heat out here finally began to take its toll on me.
"A lot of my matches last week went to three sets as well so I suppose I was asking a lot of my body to be ready again"
Niland will fly home on Thursday, August 14 and spend a few days in Dublin before jetting off to Switzerland for another ATP Challenger Tour event in Geneva.
After that Niland will take a break for a week before facing an arduous month on the road when he hopes to participate in four consecutive events across the European continent.
Although Niland's itinerary may seem daunting the Irish star's confidence is his own ability is growing by the week.
"I'm not doing anything particularly different from a technical point of view," explained Conor Niland.
"But I do feel much more comfortable out there. I believe in myself more and I'm much more calm under pressure.
"I'm beating guys who are ranked inside the top 200 in the world now and to be honest I think I was due.
"I wasn't expecting to win in India, but the win wasn't out of the blue either."
The full article contains 514 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
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Last Updated:
13 August 2008 11:44 AM
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Source:
n/a
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Location:
Limerick