McGee advances to semi-finals in Spain

IRELAND’S James McGee yesterday powered into the semi-finals of the ITF Men’s Futures event in Cordoba, Spain.

Appearing in his first third-tier Futures tournament after four second-tier Challengers, the 24-year-old Dubliner, seeded No 5, beat unseeded Spaniard Ivan Arenas-Gualda 7-5 6-3.

One service break in each was enough for the Castleknock man to clinch a last-four joust with the top seed, Spain’s Ivan Navarro.

Navarro has a current singles world ranking of 192 compared to McGee’s 377.

Elsewhere, Amy Bowtell and Briton Lucy Brown bowed out in the doubles semi-finals in the ITF Women’s Circuit event in Madrid.

Greystones native Bowtell and Brown, the No 4 seeds, scored a 3-6 6-0 10-7 (champions’ tie-break) win over French duo Amandine Cazeaux in the quarter-finals.

But the Irish-British duo came up short against the top seeds, Argentinian pair Vanesa Furlanetto and Aranza Salut, in the semi-finals on a 6-3 7-6 (7/1) margin.