The Maltese team moved up four places in the world rankings after placing seventh overall in the Eurozone Group Three tournament which was played recently in Estonia.

Malta was represented by Matthew Asciak, Bradley Callus and Cassar Torregiani brothers Bernard and Matthew.

This year, 15 teams took part. Malta was drawn in the only group consisting of three teams together with San Marino and tournament top seeds Moldova.

In the opening match, Asciak beat San Marino no.2 Pietro Grassi 6-1 6-1. Bernard Cassar Torregiani gave his all in the next match but was unlucky to lose to San Marino’s no.1 Marco de Rossi, going down after two tiebreaks 6-7(2) 6-7(3).

So, the doubles was to decide the issue.

Malta captain Steve Caruana paired Asciak with Bernard Cassar Torregiani to face De Rossi and Grassi and his decision yielded high dividends as his boys combined perfectly and ran out easy winners – 6-2 6-1.

Asciak was unable to play against Moldova, however, after feeling unwell and Callus filled his void to play Andrei Soltoiam in the opening tie.

Here, Callus’s service games proved to be a deciding factor as Soltoiam attacked his second serves with precision on his way to a 6-2 6-3 win.

Bernard Cassar Torregiani found the going tough against world no.145 Radu Albot as the young Maltese player was overpowered 6-0 6-1.

In doubles, Callus and Matthew Cassar Torregiani went down to Moldova’s top two players 6-2 6-3.

Asciak was back to the side in a classification match for 5th to 8th place against Greece. He seemed to have recovered well and defeated Vasilelos Iliopouloas 6-2 6-1.

Bernard Cassar Torregiani then faced Ioannis Stergiou, the Greek no.1 player who is way above the rest of his colleagues.

The Malta player did well to even the match when winning the second set but eventually lost the third.

The Cassar Torregiani brothers figured in the doubles against the experienced Greek pair. They fought hard and even had the opportunity of a set point but lost 7-5 6-4.

Cyprus and Estonia secured promotion after wins over Ireland and Moldova, respectively, in the decisive matches.