Ireland and Egypt ended the opening day of the BNP Paribas Euro/Africa Zone Group II Davis Cup relegation play-off, staged indoors at Castleknock Tennis Club, with honours even at 1-1.

Irish number one and local boy James McGee got the home side off to a perfect start with a comprehensive 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 straight sets victory over Karim Maamoun. The Egyptian struggled on serve throughout the match but it should not detract from an excellent performance from McGee.

Despite dropping his serve in the second game of the second set for 1-1, the Irish player broke back immediately before taking the set 6-3. He wasted little time in closing out the match.

The hopes of a another victory in the second singles were raised when Sam Barry took the opening set 6-3 against the highly regarded Egyptian number one Mohamed Safwat but the latter responded by taking two tight sets of high quality tennis, 7-5, 7-5. When the Egyptian broke for 5-3 in the third, he served for the match but Barry demonstrated his mettle by taking the fourth set to a tiebreak before losing out.

The tie continues today (1.0) with the doubles before tomorrow's reverse singles (2.0).
Today: James McGee/Sam Barry (IRL) v Mohamed Safwat/Sherif Sabry (EGY). Tomorrow: James McGee (IRL) v Mohamed Safwat (EGY); Sam Barry (IRL) v Karim Maamoun (EGY).