Malta placed a creditable eighth in the Federation Cup Europe/Africa Group III tournament which was played recently in Cairo, Egypt.

The team, composed of a mixture of experience and youth, included Elaine Genovese, Rosanne Dimech and Maria Giorgia Farrugia Sacco. They were led by captain Helen Asciak.

Genovese was participating in her fourth Fed Cup as Dimech was making a return to the scene following her participation in 2002. For Farrugia Sacco, this was an encouraging debut at the young age of 14.

Malta was drawn in Pool A with Morocco, Armenia, Ireland and Kenya.

Genovese played a very close match against Ireland’s Sinead Lohan which the Maltese girl only lost in the third set 4-6, 6-1, 2-6.

In the reverse singles, Dimech went down 2-6, 0-6 to Amy Botwell before teaming up with Genovese to win the doubles 7-6, 4-6, 7-5.

On the second day of competition, Malta played against a strong Armenian team and lost 3-0 but Asciak’s girls hit back strongly to whitewash Kenya.

Genovese beat Caroline Odour 6-2, 6-1 and Farrugia Sacco downed Veronica Osogo Nabiwre 6-3, 6-4 in her debut. Genovese and Dimech then beat the Kenya pair 6-1, 6-2.

Malta played top seeds Morocco in the last day of the group stage and here Genovese pulled one of the biggest upsets of the tournament when she surprised Nadia Lalami (WTA rank 502) 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 in an enthralling match.

In the reverse singles, Farrugia Sacco was beaten 1-6, 0-6 by Fatima El Allami and Malta also lost the doubles match 1-6, 2-6.

In a classification play-off, Malta lost to Moldova 2-1.

Genovese beat Alina Soltanici 6-3, 6-1 but Dimech lost her match to Julia Helbet by the same score.

In the deciding rubber, Genovese and Dimech were unlucky to end up on the losing side of a balanced match 1-6, 6-3, 4-6 to settle for eighth place overall.

In a statement, the Malta Tennis Federation, while appreciating the support extended by Bank of Valletta for the national teams, said they were satisfied with the performances of the Maltese team in the Federation Cup.