Camilleri, Jetcheva progress in singles
Asciak/Cassar ousted in mixed
The Maltese tennis players experienced mixed fortunes at the Bannholz Complex in Vaduz yesterday as Nick Camilleri and Elena Jetcheva both reached the quarter-finals of the singles tournament but Matthew Asciak and Kim Cassar were eliminated from the mixed doubles.
Camilleri had a positive debut in GSSE competition when he brushed aside Iceland’s Birkir Gunnarson 6-2 6-2.
Camilleri, who is based in the US, broke his opponent twice in each set to post a comfortable victory and book a tough-looking quarter-final slot against no.2 seed Benjamin Balleret or Giacomo Zonzini.
“It’s great to start for my country,” Camilleri said.
“This is my first time in the Games and I had little knowledge of the level of competition so to progress so easily is a huge boost for me.”
Jetcheva also had a trouble-free passage to the next round.
The lanky player conceded just one game in each set to set up a quarter-final clash against Monaco’s Stephanie Vogt.
In the mixed doubles competition, Asciak and Cassar were up against Louise-Alice Gambarini and Balleret, of Monaco.
The Maltese pair looked on their way to winning the first set when leading 5-4 and Cassar serving for the set. However, Gambarini and Balleret broke back and went on to take the opener 7-6 after a tie-break.
In the second set, the Maltese, urged on by coach Gordon Asciak, again tried hard to get the upperhand and opened a 4-3 ahead.
However, the Monaco duo broke twice to clinch the set 6-4.
In singles, today Asciak plays Arnar Sigurdsson in a last 16 match. For the Malta champion this will an ideal chance to avenge successive defeats to the Icelander in the last two GSSEs in Monaco and Cyprus.