The top six men and the top four lady tennis players in Malta have been invited by The Malta Tennis Federation to take part in a tournament sponsored by Gasan Mamo Insurance and to be held at the Marsa Sports Club from the 19 to the 24 February.

Full MTF ranking points will be awarded to the winners of the competition . Besides its useful purpose of the ranking of players, the tournament will form part of the intensive training sessions which the local players will go through before playing, this year, in the Small Nations Games which will evolve in June in Monaco, the Federation Cup for Ladies National Teams in Mauritius during March-April and the Davis Cup in August in Armenia.

National coach Robert Tarpey said: “The Ladies top four will be played as a round robin tournament which will give me the chance to see our top ladies play head to head, with the men’s competition run in a similar way to the ATP Masters. The round robin stage will be played as from Monday 19 February to Thursday. It will then be followed by the semi-finals on Friday . This should produce two superb finals which will be played on Saturday. Play commences each day at 5.30pm and will be followed by another fixture.

Dr. David Farrugia Sacco, Secretary General of the Malta Tennis Federation added: “This is a wonderful opportunity for the very best players on the island to meet in such a prestigious event and for us to see how our players have progressed after a period which has seen many of our players taking part in overseas competitions. I wish them all the best of luck and hope they enjoy the event.”

The players from whom the competitors in the Men’s event will be chosen are: Denzel Agius, Matthew Asciak, Daniel Ceross, Daryl Delicata, Marcus Delicata, Mateja Pecotic and Clayton Zammit. The ladies competing will be Kim Cassar, Elaine Genovese,Elena Jeteva and Stephy Sullivan.

The Malta Tennis Federation has thanked Gasan Mamo Insurance for sponsoring the tournament.