Carlton Irish Open – Dolan ends qualification hoodoo

04 December 2013 - Mark Phelan

The 100th consecutive edition of the Carlton Irish Open kicked off in Dublin today!

The 100th consecutive edition of the Carlton Irish Open kicked off in Dublin today with a host of Irish players attempting to advance to the main draw. In the end it was Jonathan Dolan (pictured), buoyed by his good showing at the Scottish Open two weeks ago, who held his nerve to book a dream first round meeting with top seed Ville Lang.
The 19 year old Sligo native displayed a level of maturity far beyond his years to come through three tough qualification matches defeating Garrido of Mexico, 6th seeds Yohan Turlan of France before a final two set victory of Joshua Young of England.
“Today was the first time I have come out of qualification in a senior international tournament. I have always fallen at the final hurdle through lack of fitness and over the past months I have been working so hard on my physical conditioning and today is proof that work has paid off” said a happy Dolan immediately after his victory.
Speaking about the challenge that faces him in the first round proper the Irishman was quietly confident about his chances.
“I beat Koukal two weeks ago which has given me some confidence. I know against Ville Lang I will have to remain super concentrated for the whole match as Ville has the ability to break any player down mentally but I am up for it”
Scotland’s Matthew Carder was the happiest qualifier in the men’s singles and almost earned himself a yellow card for his post-game celebrations after his 21-18 22-20 win over England’s Sam Phillips to advance to the main draw. The Scot had to plead with the umpire to keep the card in her pocket which she eventually did. Carder will play Erik Meijs in the main draw and will feel his luck is certainly in after his miraculous escape from a card and a fine.
Kasper Lehikoinen continued the run of form that saw him lift the Norweigan International two weeks ago. The Finn booked his main draw berth with a final round qualification victory over Germany’s Sven Eric Kastens and will be quietly confident taking to the court tomorrow against Belgium’s Yuhan Tan.
Martens sets up all Danish first round confrontation.
Denmark’s Camilla Martens looks to have taken her game to a new level as she breezed through qualification today with ease to set up an all Denmark first round clash against fellow qualifier Mette Poulsen.
The Dane expended little energy seeing off the challenge of Laura Vana and Flore Vandenhoucke and accredited her good performances today to her much improved mental capabilities on court.
“It has been a long time since I got through qualification and it was always the mental side of my game that let me down. Recently I have found a better way to be mentally stronger on court and it came through today in my performance.
Poulsen has always had the upper hand against Martens in the past but the plucky Dane was upbeat about her chances in the main draw.
“Mette and her game is something I have always struggled against. To beat her I know I have to be mentally prepared to do so and after today I think I have a good chance.”
All the main draw action starts at 9am tomorrow with all matches from court 5 streamed live on Badminton Ireland's youtube channel. To watch for free click HERE
Article and image by Mark Phelan (Live in Dublin)