In their first Senior European Championships, National Senior Champion Gavin Maguire and National Junior Champion Sam Hanley were the last Irish players standing in the 2nd Round of the Men’s Singles Championships. Both faced difficult opponent in the 2nd Round, with Hanley first up against the Swede Robert Svensson and Maguire against Daniel Habesohn of Austria. Habesohn proved to have too much quality for the Maguire taking the match 4 : 0 (7 8 6 1). Habesohn is ranked in the top 100 in Europe and Maguire will have learned some valuable lessons from this match.
Hanley faced an even more difficult task, coming up against the Swede who is ranked 54 in Europe. With Maguire and Hanley hovering around the 600 mark in the European rankings, their challenge was obvious. However, Hanley caused some consternation in the Svensson camp levelling the match at 1:1. Ultimately, Svensson’s experience at this level eventually proved telling and he progressed 4 : 1 (6 -7 2 5 3).
A full summary of the championship with player and coach reaction will follow in the coming days…