Matthew Asciak will head the Maltese team at the Davis Cup Euro Zone Group Three tournament, to be played in Tallinn, Estonia, next month.

This year, the Malta Tennis Federation selection is a blend of youth and experience as top seed Asciak and Bradley Callus are joined by the upcoming Cassar Torregiani twins Bernard and Matthew for this major team event.

Steve Caruana will be accompanying the team as coach, bringing his wealth of knowledge of the event to the players.

This will be the eighth time Asciak has represented the country in the Davis Cup, having in the past played 29 matches, achieving an impressive 16 wins.

Sixteens teams will be competing in the Euro Zone tournament, and although the draws for the sections have not been made, Malta could face some tough opposition from countries like Cyprus, who might opt to field world number 57 Marco Baghdatis, and Moldova who have world number 127 Radu Albot in their ranks.

The format will be a round-robin competition of four teams that will be drawn in four different pools.

The winners in each group will figure in play-offs to determine which two nations are promoted to Europe/Africa Zone Group Two in 2017.

Malta Tennis Federation president David Farrugia Sacco is cautiously optimistic about the team’s chances in Tallinn.

“Once more, we are competing in the most important annual event of the International Tennis Federation,” he said in a statement.

“The expectations are to improve on last year’s positive showing and, perhaps, make it to the play-offs stage.”