Cassar storms through
Asciak and Ceross out
Kim Cassar stormed into the second round of the women's singles yesterday after brushing aside Cyprus player Daniella Kyprianidou 6-0 6-0.
However, there was no such joy for Matthew Asciak and Daniel Ceross who were eliminated from the men's competition in the first round.
Cassar was making her first appearance at the Games but showed no signs of nervousness as she outplayed her opponent for a double-bagel victory.
Today, she will test her wits against top seed Mandy Minella, of Luxembourg.
"I'm delighted with my performance," Cassar said.
"I knew I had a good chance of progressing but to win in that manner in my first match in the GSSE is unbelievable. Now I have a tough one coming up. Minella is ranked 250th in the WTA list."
The draw offered Asciak the chance to avenge his second-round upset to Iceland's Arnur Sigurdsson in Monaco but the Maltese no.1 seed never got going and lost 6-3 6-3.
Ceross also found the going tough against Monaco silver medallist Benjamin Balleret who cruised to a comfortable 6-2 6-2 win.
Coach Rob Tarpey was left with a sour taste.
"We never expected Matthew to lose today. But, he was clearly way below his best," Tarpey said.
"He committed a series of unforced errors, especially on his backhand, and you can't do that against solid players like Sigurdsson. This season, Matthew played on a very high level and it's unfortunate that he didn't deliver in his most important game of the year.
"Daniel was also facing a tall order against Balleret, one of the Games' best players."
Meanwhile, Asciak will renew his rivalry with Sigurdsson today when he teams up with Ceross to face Iceland in doubles. Sigurdsson's partner will be Birkir Gunnarsson.
Cassar and Elaine Genovese were drawn against Cyprus pair Marilena Papadopoulos and Ioanna-Nena Savva.
No play-off
The Cyprus Tennis Federation has upheld the proposal from delegates from Malta and other countries to abolish the bronze medal play-off in these Games.
The organising committee announced yesterday that, after assessing the matter, they decided to award a bronze medal to the two losing semi-finalists and do away with the play-off which had been scheduled for Saturday.