Malta champion Matthew Asciak reached the quarter-finals of the ITF Junior championships in Dubai yesterday after beating Ahmed Sharif of Egypt 6-0 6-4.

After winning the first set convincingly, Asciak had to come back from being 1-4 in arrears to defeat the top Egyptian in the second set.

Asciak, who is seeded No. 5, will now meet the tournament's top seed, 18-year-old Vaja Uzakov from Uzbekistan. The latter's ranking in the world is 85 and that makes it obvious that Asciak now faces a most difficult encounter.