Asciak through to QFs

Matthew Asciak reached the quarter-finals of the Dubai Tournament yesterday after clear victories in his opening two matches at the Emirates.

Asciak, who started 364th in the U-18 world list, first faced Thomas Deighton in the Last 32 match. The Malta champion had little difficulty progressing to the next round after beating the Briton 6-1 6-2.

Yesterday, he played Ahmed Sharaf, of Egypt, and won 6-0 6-4. In the second set Asciak, the no.5 seed in the tournament, recovered after being 1-4 down.

A total of 64 players are competing in the tournament, with 32 players involved in the qualifying round and another 32 in the main draw.

Asciak, who is sponsored by Lufthansa, will now play Uzbekistan's Vaja Uzakov, for a place in the semi-finals.