Doyle and Nugent cruise to semi-finals

DUBLINERS Yvonne Doyle and Karen Nugent are poised to clean up in the Ellesse Irish Women’s $10,000 Open Tennis Championship at Castleknock.

In yesterday’s singles quarter-finals they were operating at opposite ends of the draw and came through to today’s semi-finals with huge credit.

Doyle, seeded five, was hugely impressive when sending the top seed and holder Eden Marama packing in a real upset. She took the first set 6/2, dropped service early on in the second to lose it 4/6 but came storming back in the final set to win without dropping a game.

Nugent, at the other end, was even more impressive. She ousted Britain’s tournament shocker Rebecca Llewellyn 6/3, 6/0. Llewellyn was given no time to reflect on her big success over number two seed Sarah Borwell from Britain. Nugent takes on Britain’s Lucy Fletcher in today’s semi-finals.