2017 IRISH OPEN | BURRAGE, BOSSEL CLAIM TITLES
Jodie Burrage and Adrien Bossel are the 2017 AIG Irish Open singles champions
A cool Saturday in South Dublin saw Great Britain's Jodie Burrage capture the Irish Open women's singles title in the afternoon, before Adrien Bossel of Switzerland lifted the men's trophy a few hours later.
Burrage, aged 18 and ranked 891 in the world, struck a number of searing backhands in a topsy turvy 7-6 6-4 victory over Irish no.1, Sinead Lohan. The Londoner, recently ranked no.14 in the ITF junior rankings, came through in 85 minutes to earn her first ITF singles title.
The men's final was a clash between two big servers in Bossel and Peter Kobelt of the United States.
The left-handed Bossel bothered the American throughout with his swing serve and pinpoint forehand. Despite a late flurry of aces that staved off some match points, Kobelt eventually succumbed 3-6 6-4 7-6 to the man from Fribourg.
Saturday's male finalists could be deemed party poopers amongst the locals as they dispatched Irish players Simon Carr and Sam Barry in the semi-finals. Still, the Fitzwilliam crowd put that aside and enjoyed some fine shotmaking, particularly in an extremely close third set that was decided by tie-break.
The doubles finals were held on Friday and some excellent rallies and performances were to be found in both matches.
No.1 seeds Giorgia Marchetti and Rosalie van Der Hoek displayed their forecourt nous in the women's doubles final. The duo defeated Quinn Gleason and Emily Appleton 7-5 6-4 in an entertaining tussle. As an aside, 17-year-old Appleton, a top 10 junior from Surrey, is an impressive prospect and boasts a blistering forehand and as sweet a service motion as you'll find.
Harry Bourchier and Daniel Nolan overcame Sam Bothwell and Harry's brother, Edward, in the men's final. The Aussie duo won 6-2 2-6 10-3 in a bout peppered with monstrous two-handed backhands from Nolan.
This was also a great week for home-grown talent as Lohan, Barry, Carr, Georgia Drummy, Daniel Glancy, Anna Bowtell, Julie Byrne, Pete Bothwell and Osgar Ó'Hóisín all picked up singles victories while Sam Bothwell made the final of the men's doubles.