Watch: Alex Degabriele reaches semi-finals, Curmi and Genovese book doubles final berth

Maltese tennis players assured themselves of at least two medals at the Games of the Small States as defending champions Francesca Curmi and Elaine Genovese stormed into the ladies’ doubles final, while Alex Degabriele booked his place in the semi-finals of the men’s competition.

Degabriele was the first on court, and he was up against a highly-rated Luxembourg player, Raphael Calzi.

The US-based Degabriele started brightly and managed to edge the opening set in a tie-break.

In the second set, the Maltese player stepped up his level with Calzi struggling to hold his serve.

Degabriele managed to break his opponent twice during the second set and secure a 7-6 6-4 victory.

“I am very happy with the performance,” Degabriele told the Times of Malta.

“Coming out of yesterday, it came good, I served much better, and it helped me a lot. Calzi is a very good player, and he needed a very good level to come into this round, but now I am excited going into the semi-final and will see how it goes.”

Next up for Degabriele is a clash against Valentin Vacherot, of Monaco, ranked 150th in the world and who took part in the French Open qualifiers last week.

“Definitely the pressure will be on his shoulders,” Degabriele said.

He played in the French Open last week and is ranked 150th in the world. It’s a tough time, this court levels things out a bit, and I believe that if I serve well, you never know what happens.”

Curmi and Genovese produced a very solid performance to see off home hopes Judit Cartana Alana and Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva 6-2 6-4.

Thus the Maltese pair are already assured to be coming home with a silver medal but no doubt their focus will be to retain the gold medal they won during the Malta edition two years ago.

Curmi and Genovese will be up against opponents from Luxembourg or Cyprus.

“We are super happy to reach the final again,” Genovese said.

“It wasn’t easy to win against Andorra at home, but we stuck to our plan and kept going… our energy was great and we keep on fighting till the end.”

Earlier in the day, Genovese crashed out of the singles competition when she lost to Montenegro’s Tea Nickcevic 6-2 6-4.

On the other hand, Curmi is through to the semi-finals when she overcame Nina Andronicou in straights sets, 6-4 6-1.

Liam Delicata was knocked out of the men’s singles when he lost to Andreas Timini, of Cyprus, 6-3 6-2.

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