This year’s Palace Open tournament, sponsored by the AX Hotel Operations Ltd, was played recently at the Malta Union Club.

The competition again proved to be a success with a very high number of players taking part.

In fact, 52 matches and 147 games were played at the club’s well-kept courts in Sliema.

The level was also high in both men’s and women’s categories mainly because members of the national teams, who will be playing in the European Championships next month, took part.

In the men’s ‘A’ tournament, Mark Lupi had the better of Nigel Dunkerley in the semi-final to set up a final against Gary Nitschke.

It was a close contest which eventually saw Nitschke emerge victorious.

In the mixed ‘B’ final, Karl Magri, who had not played competitively for some time, showed that he was still a valid player as he beat David Crane 3-0.

This year, the organisers also had a very encouraging entry in the women’s Open, further proof of how popular this event has become as usually there are not enough female players to make up a category of their own.

Cecilia Mercieca, who has been away from Malta for the past 18 months, showed that she has been training very hard despite her academic duties.

Mercieca beat Sarah DeCesare in an exciting semi-final while Johanna Rizzo had an easy ride to the finals.

Rizzo is still considered among the top female players around and she continued to enhance her reputation with victory over Mer-cieca in the final.