In brief: Niland claims massive scalp
Tennis
IRELAND'S Conor Niland was yesterday celebrating the biggest win of his professional career.
Niland earned a quarter-final place in the ATP Challenger Tour event in Ramat Hasharon, Israel, after dumping out Grand Slam finalist Rainer Schuettler of Germany in a nail-biting match lasting a marathon two hours and 31 minutes.
After sharing the first two sets, the Limerick native held his composure in the decider, and two breaks of serve to Schuettler's one saw him prevail on a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 margin.
Today, Niland faces No 6 seed Israel's Harel Levy, who scored a 6-4 3-6 6-4 win over American Alex Bogomolov Junior.
Roger Federer had little trouble in booking his place in the third round of the Estoril Open after the top seed beat Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-3 6-4. It was the World No 1's first win on clay this year.
Cycling
Nicolas Roche is facing a race against time to recover from a knee injury in time for this year's Tour de France.
The 25-year-old Irish road race champion was forced to pull out before the fourth stage of the Tour de Romandie last Saturday due to swelling on his knee and Roche has been ordered to rest for three weeks after a scan revealed he'd torn his left hamstring.
The Ag2r La Mondiale rider is supposed to ride the Dauphine Libere from June 7 to 14, which is one of the main selection races ahead of the Tour. But with that race just a month away, Roche will be struggling to make the start line.
Rugby
Clondalkin overcame some staunch resistance from a highly charged Kildare side to claim the Leinster Town's Plate 21-19 last night at the Maws ground, Kilcock.
In a topsy-turvy game that both sides looked capable of winning, the men from the capital eventually justified their billing as favourites thanks to an injury-time penalty from full-back Chris Jebb.
Racquets
In table tennis, the Senior Schools' International Championships, due to be held from June 25-27, have been relocated from Dublin to Limerick on capacity grounds because of an entry of over 170 players from Ireland and the UK.
In badminton, Leinster gained promotion to the 'B' Premier Division in the English Inter-County League due to wins over Kent (6-5), Norfolk (7-4) and Northumberland (7-4).
Irish Independent
