The semi-final stage proved a stumbling block for our tennis players Francesca Curmi and Elaine Genovese who were both knocked out in the last four of the singles competition while Genovese and Asciak were denied of a place in the final in the mixed doubles to leave Malta with three bronze medals.

Genovese and Curmi were the first to take court yesterday in the women’s semi-finals.

Genovese was up against Cyprus player Raluca Serban, the no.1 seed. The Malta champion found the going tough against Serban who simply held too much ammunition for Genovese as she coasted home with a comfortable 6-1 6-1 scoreline.

It was a completely different story in the second semi-final as Curmi put up a spirited showing against Eleonora Molinaro, of Luxembourg, in what proved to be a very balanced match.

Curmi held her own against the second seed but in the end she was made to pay for some costly unforced errors as Molinaro prevailed 6-4 6-3.In the mixed doubles Asciak and Genovese were the protagonist of a marathon semi-final against Molinaro and Nastasi, of Luxembourg that lasted over two hours.

The Maltese duo coasted through the first set 6-1 but were pegged back as Molinaro and Nastasi claimed the second set by the same scoreline. The decider turned out to be a thriller with little separating both teams.

However, in the end Molinaro and Nastasi kept control of their nerves to edge the set 10-8 to progress to the final.