Anna flies out but tennis fans excited by other attractions

ANNA KOURNIKOVA flew out of Dublin at 5am yesterday but that didn’t mean there weren’t many other attractions awaiting the fans at the Trilogy Challenge in the RDS.

The Simmonscourt arena was about two-thirds full when the second day’s programme got underway with a straight sets victory for Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport over Eva Majoli and Barbara Schett, but there was a noticeable increase both in numbers and interest once the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, entered the hall to take on the sure-to-be-outclassed Daniela Hantuchova and Elena Bovina.

Serena and Venus, in that order, are numbers one and two in the world and it was some coup (however expensive) on the parts of the organisers to attract them to this country for the first time.