Maltese girls shine in Rome

Helene Pelicano and Francesca Curmi, two young members of the Gordon Asciak Tennis Academy, recently took part in the prestigious Lemon Bowl U-10 tournament in Rome.

This year’s event attracted over 1,900 players in four age-groups – U-16, U-14, U-12 and U-10.

Pelicano was only one point away from achieving arguably one of the best results for junior tennis in Malta. On her way to the final, Pelicano had the better of Italian girls Mori, Forcisi, Mascolo and Girelli.

In the final, Pelicano met the talented Paoletti. The Maltese girl lost the first set 6-4 and was 4-1 down in the second. She showed tremendous fighting spirit to hit back and win the second set 7-6.

In the third, Pelicano had a match point at 6-5 up in the tiebreak. Unfortunately, she lost the match point and the set 9-7.

Curmi also had a very good tournament. She won against Mastromarino, Cinque and Iannone before going out to Paoletti 6-2, 6-0 in the semi-finals.

“The excellent results obtained by Pelicano and Curmi show that the work we are doing with our juniors is reaping the desired rewards,” Gordon Asciak, the academy head coach, said.

“These two girls, along with the other promising juniors attending the academy, will soon have the possibility to train all year round as we will start using two indoor courts by the beginning of March.”