Niland through to Israel final

IRELAND’S Conor Niland yesterday extended his stunning run in the ATP Challenger Israel Open by nailing down a place in the final of the $100,000 outdoor hardcourt event, at Ramat Hasharon.

Niland clinched a showdown today with Brazil’s No 4 seed Thiago Alves by executing a two-set demolition job on Germany’s Denis Gremelmayr, prevailing 7-5 6-1 after one hour and 27 minutes.

As a result of his march to the final, the 222-ranked Limerick native has picked up 60 ranking points, and he is set to break into the world top 200, becoming the second highest ranked player in the history of Irish tennis after Matt Doyle.

The unseeded Limerick native made the crucial move in the opener when he broke his opponent at 6-5, and he repeated the feat when he was leading 2-1 and 4-1 in the second set.

In what proved to be the last game of the contest, Niland fell love-30 behind on his own serve, but he emphatically closed the door on Gremelmayr by reeling off the next four points on the trot to ensure victory.

“My serve and forehand were very good today, and that gave Gremelmayr a lot of trouble, and particularly in the second set,” said a delighted Niland, who was cheered on by the Irish ambassador to Israel.

After an injury lay-off, Gremelmayr’s ranking has slipped to 314, but earlier in the week he dumped out Taipei’s 78-ranked Yen-Tsun Lu, whom Louk Sorensen beat in the Australian Open, and Austria’s 117-ranked Stefan Koubek. Alves, who is ranked at 116, edged Turkey’s 123-ranked Marsel Ilhan, whom Niland beat in the Davis Cup tie in Dublin last March, 7-5 6-4 in the other semi-final.