Gardiner and Rasmussen in final

There were two thrilling semi-finals to the boys U18 singles at the Irish Junior Close championships at Rushbrooke, Cork yesterday.

Top seed David Gardiner, a member of the host club, edged out his clubmate Gary Stack.

Fourth seed Stack took the first set 6-3 but Gardiner battled back to take the next on a similar score and in a great third set Gardiner won 7-5.

In today’s final, Gardiner will meet the number two seed, Adam Rasmussen, also Rushbrooke, who had a terrific battle before beating Limerick Lawn’s Robbie Pratt in a first set tie-break and taking the second 7-5.

In the girls’ competition, top-seeded Holly Monohan, Carrickmines, defeated Aisling O’Riordan in straight sets, 6-4, 7-4.

Monohan dropped only two games when beating Aoife Stockdale in the semi-final.