In effect today, tomorrow and Saturday is the culmination of a summer's work for a number of the players who will be taking part in the Danone Master's Finals at Castleknock Tennis Club.
After 12 qualifying tournaments for the men and 10 for the women, eight players will compete in a round-robin series for the Masters title. Yvonne Doyle goes into the finals as outright favourite on the women's side with Davis Cup campaigners, Stephen Nugent and Peter Clarke the biggest names in the men's draw after a glut of defections.
Doyle tops the leader-board with 1250 points, having won an incredible six tournaments from just seven played. Over one five-week period through July and August, she won in Carrickmines, in Wexford, at the East of Ireland and the Co Wicklow Championships. Sixteen-year-old Bulgarian Mariyana Levova has also shown a precocious ability and her match up against the similarly aged Dubliner and Irish Federation Cup player, Rachael Dillon, should be an interesting prospect.
The women's event starts at 5pm with Doyle facing Vanessa Newman, Lisa Lawlor meeting Ann Marie Hogan, and the veteran Federation Cup player, Leslie O'Halloran, up against Jenny Claffey.
The men's matches begin at 7pm with Nugent facing Michael Hayes. Nugent has certainly been enjoying his first season back full-time after a few years away from the game and was an impressive victor in the Wicklow Championships.
In the other first day pairings, Irish junior champion from last week's tournament in Fitzwilliam, Daniel Glancy, faces the vastly more experienced Clarke, while Conor Taylor takes on Simon Wrafter. The final match pits Gareth Doran against Larne's Nelson Boyle. Once again the three-day competition is run on a round-robin format. The semi-finals take place on Friday evening with both of the finals scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
THURSDAY: Women - Y Doyle v V Newman; L Lawlor v A Marie Hogan; L O'Halloran v J Claffey; R Dillon v M Levova. Men - S Nugent v M Hayes; D Glancy v P Clarke; C Taylor v S Wrafter; G Doran v N Boyle.
