Asciak and Genovese retain titles

The Malta Open Championships, sponsored by Gatorade and sanctioned by the Malta Tennis Federation, were held recently at the Marsa Sports Club. Matthew Asciak and Elaine Genovese retained the titles they both won last year, beating Denzil Agius and Kim Cassar in their respective finals.

Clearly, the tournaments Asciak is playing regularly abroad have developed his game in one of power and speed. On the way to the final, he eliminated Par Jonsson and Aaron Stivala.

Agius had a close first round match, beating Bernard Cassar Torreggiani 6-4 3-6 6-2. He then ousted Alex Jesperson, of Denmark, in the next round. In the semi-final, Agius beat Mark Gatt 6-2 6-1.

The final was a one-side affair.

Agius gave his all but Asciak was in total control from start to finish, winning his fifth Malta Open title 6-1 6-1.

In the women’s singles, Genovese beat Brenda Galea 6-0 6-0 in the semi-finals while Cassar had the better of Steffie Sullivan 3-6 6-0 6-1.

As anticipated, the final between Malta’s top two female players was a good game of tennis to watch for those present.

Cassar took the early initiative, winning the first set 6-3. She then raced to a 5-3 lead in the second set and also had a match point at 5-4 but could not manage to close the match.

This gave Genovese fresh impetus and, suddenly, she started to produce her best tennis.

From 3-5 down, she won six games in a row to go 2-0 up in the third set. Cassar won the third game before play was cancelled due to rain. Unfortunately, because Cassar had to travel the next day, the match was awarded to Genovese.

The men’s doubles final was contested between Asciak/Agius and Gatt/Stivala. The former pair won the match 6-3 6-2.