Maltese junior tennis team return from the UK Triumphant

The Malta Tennis Federation sent nine top junior players to compete in two Level 3 tournaments in the UK held in Torquay and Birmingham. This year’s contingent consisted of three girls and six boys aged between 12 and 17.

The first tournament was based at the prestigious Torquay Tennis Club, which is the largest of the Level 3 LTA rating tournaments held in the UK. Raphael Sammut and Matthew Cassar Torreggiani lost in the 4th round of a 128 player draw but Matthew’s twin brother Bernard battled through 7 rounds, sometimes against much higher ranked players, to win the boys under 16 event outright.

And to add to his singles title Bernard along with brother Matthew went on to win the under 18 doubles against very tough competition, knocking the number one seeds in the semi-final.
 
Other noticeable wins came from the girls. Katrina Sammut won the under 12 title and also won the under 14 consolation event. Alexia Cassar lost in the quarter finals of the under 14 main event and then narrowly lost the final of the under 16 consolation.    

The team then travelled to the Midlands to take part in the Edgebaston Archery and Lawn Tennis tournament. Ben Farrugia and Bettina Booker on their first UK trip scored some notable results in Birmingham.  Ben won the under 12 consolation draw and Bettina made the quarter finals of the main draw of the Under 14's and then made the semi-finals of the consolation event. Katrina and Alexia had to play each other in the under 14 final with Katrina coming out on top after a closely fought match.

Zach Ciappara lost in the quarter finals of the boys under 14 but along with partner Katrina Sammut won the under 18 mixed doubles event. The older boys also performed well, Bernard and Raphael both won through to the quarter finals of the under 16 boys. Bernard and Matthew again made a formidable doubles team only narrowly losing the final of the 18 boys doubles event.     

Accompanying coaches Robert Tarpey and Omar Suduka were very happy with the teams’ performance. MTF President Dr David Farrugia Sacco stated that this has become an annual event whereby our juniors are given much needed international match practice. The MTF is committed to see as many juniors play overseas in order to improve their level of play.