Rooney & Gaskin Through To Galway Quarters

Irish eyes were smiling on the first day of action in the Garavan's West of Ireland Open when local players John Rooney and Arthur Gaskin comfortably came through the first round of the inaugural PSA Tour event at Galway Tennis Club in Galway, Ireland.

Rooney, the No7 seed, showed his experience in front of a packed gallery, defeating Finland's Matias Tuomi 11-4, 11-2, 11-3 with ease in 20 minutes. The Galway-born 27-year-old now faces top seed David Barnett for a place in the semi-finals.

Barnett, 25, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England, took 65 minutes to overcome Argentina's Matias Valenzuela 10-11 (0-2), 11-10 (3-1), 11-6, 11-6.

In the other half of the draw, second seed Arthur Gaskin despatched England's Jaymie Haycocks 11-8, 11-5, 11-4 in 28 minutes. The Dublin-born 22-year-old will meet another Englishman, eighth seed Robbie Temple, in the last eight.

1st round:
[1] David Barnett (ENG) bt Matias Valenzuela (ARG) 10-11 (0-2), 11-10 (3-1), 11-6, 11-6 (65m)
[7] John Rooney (IRL) bt Matias Tuomi (FIN) 11-4, 11-2, 11-3 (20m)
[Q] Ben Ford (ENG) bt Bruno Vega (ESP) 11-1, 10-11 (2-4), 11-6, 11-4 (30m)
[5] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) bt [Q] Thomas Phipps (ENG) 11-10 (3-1), 11-6, 11-7 (27m)
[6] Jason Barry (RSA) bt [Q] Shahid Khan (ENG) 11-10 (2-0), 7-11, 11-1, 11-2 (48m)
[3] Stuart Crawford (SCO) bt [Q] Jethro Binns (WAL) 10-11 (1-3), 11-6, 11-8, 11-4 (46m)
[8] Robbie Temple (ENG) bt Thomas Javanaud (ENG) 11-5, 11-5, 11-6 (38m)
[2] Arthur Gaskin (IRL) bt Jaymie Haycocks (ENG) 11-8, 11-5, 11-4 (28m)