Simon Gerada and Yu Wang ascertained themselves of reaching the semi-finals of the individual tournament yesterday when the competition got underway.

Gerada had won three of the four matches he played yesterday. This morning's remaining two matches will determine whether he will win Group A or finish second.

Wang remained unbeaten, winning all her four matches. She plays her final match today and seems to be assured of winning the group.

For Andrzej Makowski, there was still hope he might make it to the last four from his section, but all depended on the outcome of the remaining matches, where the opposition is expected to be tough.

The other competitor, Johanna Grech, won two and lost of the four matches played and her chances of going through are very slim.

In Group A of the men's singles, Simon Gerada started his commitments with an easy 3-0 win over Rodriguez Chalais Patrick of Andorra, winning 11-6, 11-6, 11-9.

In his second encounter, however, Gerada seemed to have missed his concentration against Kyril Talavanov of Cyprus from the third set onwards. He won the first two sets 11-7 and 11-8, but then lost the third set narrowly 12-10. He became nervous and the Cypriot levelled matters winning the fourth set 12-10. In the deciding fifth set, Gerada felt the pressure and the Cypriot ran out 11-8 winner to clinch the points.

In the afternoon, Gerada returned to winning form when he beat Monaco's Eric Andre 3-0(10-3), 10-4, 10-8). Later he added another 3-0 victory against Marco Vannucci of San Marino which assured him of his place in the last four.

In Group B, Andrezj Makowski lost his first match against Cypriot Serafimov Ognyan 3-1 (8-11, 12-10, 9-11, 10-12. But he recovered quickly as he went on to win his second match, defeating Andorra's Sylvain Franceschi Martineau easily 3-0 (11-4, 11-2, 11-4).

In his next match, Makowski registered his second win as he beat Arnaud Manfredi of Monaco 3-1 (11-5, 11-4, 11-13, 11-3). He then went on to score another win after beating Riccardo Tentoni of San Marino 3-0 (11-7, 11-3, 11-6).

He then added another win to remain in contention, beating Peter Frommelt of Liechtenstein 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-9).

Today he faces the strong Arlindo Valente de Sousa of Luxembourg, one of the favourites to win the tournament. Later he plays against Magnus Magnusson of Iceland.

In Group A of the women's singles, Johanna Grech did well to beat Iceland's Gouron Bjornsdottir 3-1 (11-8, 10-12, 11-6, 11-6). In the second match against Gergana Atanasova of Cyprus, the veteran Maltese girl produced another excellent performance, but it was still not enough as the stronger Cypriot girl emerged a narrow winner by 3-2 (2-11, 11-7, 11-8, 2-11, 4-11). As can be seen from the result, Johanna was also leading 2-1 at the end of the third set.

Grech then returned to victory in his first afternoon match as she beat Andorra's Manuella Bertrand 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 12-10).

Her chances to advance receded later when she was beaten by San Marino's Diao Yi 3-0 (7-11, 3-11, 5-11).

In Group B, Wang Yu started the day with two good 3-0 wins. Showing obvious superiority, she first beat Louiza Kourea of Cyprus 3-0 (11-1, 11-9, 11-3) and later she overcame Luxembourg's Amouk Meis 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-5). In her first afternoon match, Wang beat Iceland's Magnes Jonina Olafs 3-0 (11-1, 11-2, 11-3). Later she maintained her impressive and triumphant run with another 3-0 win over Sylvia Mouret of Monaco (11-2, 11-1, 11-3).