McGee and O'Brien win at Fitzwilliam

James McGee and Colin O'Brien have advanced to the Men's Singles quarter-finals of the Green Property Men's Irish Open at Fitzwilliam LTC in Dublin.

McGee, Ireland's top seeded player in the tournament, had to deal with postponements for heavy rain as he defeated James Ludlow of the USA in two sets. He won a very tight first set on a tie break before racing away with the second 6-2.

O'Brien, currently ranked 647 in the world, beat Matthew Asciak of Malta, also in two sets (7-6 6-2).

He will face Miloslav Mecir of Slovakia, the highest seed left in the draw (2), on Centre Court at 12pm on Thursday.

John Morrissey's run in the competition came to a end when he lost to Simon Cauvard of France. Morrissey, 17, was playing as a wildcard and won his first round match on Monday.

He took the first set 6-4 hitting some terrific ground stroke winners but the Frenchman upped his game with some effective net play to take the second set 6-3 before going on to win a tight deciding third set 6-4 .

McGee will play Cauvard in the quarter finals at 1.30pm on Thursday.

O'Brien's Davis Cup teammate Barry King was unfortunate to lose in a third set tie break to 7th seed Andrea Falgheri. King had a set point in the first set but lost it 7-5 before winning the second set 6-1. Falgheri won the deciding tie break by 70.

Mayo man Daniel Glancy also exited the tournament, losing to Britain's Daniel Cox. Glancy, who beat the number one seed Josh Goodall on Tuesday, won the first set but Cox hit back to win the next two 6-4 6-2.

In the doubles, Irishmen James Cluskey and Colin O'Brien advanced to the semi-final as did Barry King, who has teamed up with Colin Ebelthite of Australia. McGee and Mecir also progressed to the semi.

Irish players were also in action at events elsewhere in Europe.

Conor Niland, Ireland's number one senior player, is through to to the quarter finals of the Men's Singles event at the ATP Challenger Tour $50,000 Penza Cup in Russia.

He beat Artem Smirnov of Ukraine in two sets (6-4 6-4). He will face 5th seed Uladzimie Ignatik of Belarus in the semi-final on Thursday.

At the European Junior Championships in Switzerland, Sam Barry, ranked 71 in the world, beat 12th seed Filip Horansky in the third round to make it to the final sixteen. Barry beat the 17-year-old Slovakian, who has a ranking of 35, 6-1 6-2. He will play 6th Seed Mate Pavic from Croatia on Thursday.

Nicola Drummy, the number four seed, has advanced into the semi-finals of the Under-14 Tennis Europe event underway at Mount Pleasant after defeating fellow Irish player Aubrey Ryan-Flynn in straight sets, 6-0 6-0.

She will play Sophie Botham of England next.