Busy time for Asciak

Matthew Asciak has continued to gain maximum benefit from his Lufthansa sponsorship this summer, garnering more experience in overseas tournaments and training camps over the past five weeks.

His first stop was Pisa, Italy for a training camp. Asciak was joined by Elaine Genovese and Steffie Sullivan. All three practised under the eyes of national coach Rob Tarpey.

Asciak then headed to Scotland to play in two ITF ranking tournaments. On both occasions, he went out at the quarter-final stage.

Genovese and Clayton Zammit also figured in the tournaments.

The latter partnered Asciak in the doubles and both did well to reach the semi-finals.

Asciak's next stop was Austria where he took part in the U-18 Euro Championships. He faced the country's top player and lost in two close sets, 7-5 7-6. Here, Zammit also lost in the first round while Genovese was beaten by France's top seed 7-5 6-1 in the second round.

Asciak also had the opportunity this summer to practise at the Elitennis Academy in Barcelona.

The young tennis player is currently preparing for his next ITF world ranking tournament which will be played in Libya.