Niland eyes top 100 after victory in Israel

IRISH tennis sensation Conor Niland is targeting a spot in the top 100 in the world by the end of 2010.

The Limerick native captured the singles title at the Israel Open at Ramat Hasharon on Saturday after a marathon three hours and eight minutes victory over Brazilian Thiago Alves 5-7 7-6 (7/3) 6-3.

But the silverware and the pay cheque (€11,309) are of secondary importance for Niland who is set to shoot up the ATP rankings which will be published later today.

“This is the biggest step of my professional career,” Niland said yesterday as he returned from Israel.

“It is huge in terms of the world rankings. This will push me well inside the 200 mark. But my goal is to make the top 100 by the end of the year.

“That wouldn’t happen in the next month or two, that is a long term project. But the most important thing is that I can’t allow myself to become complacent. My next target is the French Open, I would love to try and qualify for that.”

Niland now replaces Louk Sorensen as Irish number one and believes a new training regime at the BNP Paribas National Tennis Academy at Dublin City University is responsible for his run of good form.

“I’ve full-time coaches, a fitness trainer, a nutritionist, and all those things make a difference.

“The other thing is belief. If you have the belief you can win, it makes winning more achievable.”

As in his earlier matches against higher-ranked opponents Rainer Schuettler and Harel Levy, 222-ranked Niland showed little respect for the form book against world number 116 Alves. After levelling at one-set all, he appeared to be on the back foot when Alves, who was ranked at 88 in July 2009, raced into a 3-0 lead in the final set.

However, the Shannonsider underlined his mental toughness by adopting a much more aggressive approach to his play, and this policy was rewarded when he took six games on the trot to seal victory.

Niland also believes that the profile of Irish tennis is on an upward curve this year.

“Definitely there is a huge amount of interest this year. You had Louk doing so well in Australia earlier this year, our success in the Davis Cup and now this. There is a bit of momentum building and that is great for the players and everyone involved. There is a great sense of satisfaction and recognition.”

Meanwhile Sorensen is to make his comeback to tournament action after a three month hamstring injury lay-off in this week’s ATP Challenger Tour event in Biella, Italy.

To add to an outstanding week for Irish tennis, unseeded Dublin duo James Cluskey and Colin O’Brien captured the doubles title in the ITF Men’s Futures event in Edinburgh, defeating the No 3 seeds, their fellow Dub Barry King and Britain’s Marcus Willis, 6-3 6-3.