An impressive Nicki Camilleri started his commitments for Malta yesterday afternoon with an impressive 6-2, 6-2 win against Iceland’s Gunnarsson to advance comfortably to the next round.

The Maltese youngster, who is studying in the United States, dominated his opponent and it took him just over one hour to complete his victory under the Liechtenstein sun on one side and a thunderstorm on the other side of the mountains.

Camilleri started the match solidly and after more or less sharing the exchanges in the first three games, he broke the Icelandic opponent in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. From then on, he never looked back as he raced into a 5-1 lead before Gunnarsson won the seventh game to make it 5-2.

But his hopes of a recovery were soon dashed to the ground as Camilleri played a superb final match to clinch the set 6-2.

The second set followed the same pattern of the first with Camilleri breaking his opponent in the second game to take a 2-0 lead. Gunnarsson kept in touch at 3-1 and 3-2, but then Camilleri won the final three matches in succession to claim his deserved win.

Elena Jetcheva’s debut at these Games was a resounding success. The towering youngster completely demolished her opponent from Iceland, Iris Staub, winning easily 6-1, 6-1 in her first singles match.

The match simply had no story as Jetcheva showed great superiority from start to finish never allowing her opponent to have a chance.

In the Mixed Doubles match, Malta’s pair of Matthew Asciak and Kim Cassar were close and yet so far to achieving a surprise win against Monaco’s Balleret and Gamberini.

The two Maltese players had several chances, but both were guilty of innumerable unforced errors, especially double faults, which allowed the Monagesque pair to take control, especially near the end.

To be fair, Asciak and Cassar also had some good moments, especially when they broke their opponents, but every time they did so, they never took advantage of the situation as Monaco’s duo responded quickly by breaking the Maltese, thus denying them the chance to race away to a victory, especially in the first set.

This was certainly a keenly contested affair, The Maltese started badly as they lost service and Monaco raced into a 2-0 lead. But Asciak and Cassar combined well to get back on level terms (2-2) soon after. Malta led 3-2, 4-3 and 4-3 before they broke their opponents to take a 5-3 cushion when serving for the set. But it was not to be as some unforced errors allowed the Monaco duo to win the game and they were back into contention. It became 5-5 and then 6-5 for Monaco, but the Maltese hit back to level at six-all and force the tie break.

Even here, the sides were evenly matched until the Monaco pair sealed it on 7-5.

The second set was a repeat of the first as the score went to 4-3 with Malta in the lead after winning their opponent’s service. However, they quickly lost their own service and the score was again level – 4-4 – soon after. Monaco then went on to win the next game 5-4, perhaps with some luck on the final shot, before going on to win the service again in the final game to clinch the set 6-4 and the match 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.

It was definitely a match not beyond the reach of Asciak and Cassar.

Disappointment

There was an aura of disappointment surrounding the Maltese clan after the Mixed Doubles defeat.

Coach Gordon Asciak appeared to be very angry at the way his team had lost. Top members from the Maltese Olympic Committee, including President Farrugia Sacco, who were also at the Tennis Club watching the match, also appeared disappointed. “We should have done much better,” said Farrugia Sacco.

But Elena Jetcheva and Nicki Camilleri had a lot to shout about following their splendid wins.

Camilleri said his debut for Malta could not have been better. “I am very happy. It is simply great to start with such an emphatic win. I was somewhat nervous at the start, but I managed to settle down quickly and then I think I played quite well.

“We have a great squad and I believe we can be successful although, considering that it is a tournament for small states, the standard is very high. In fact, the seeds are highly ranked in the world and that makes this tournament more interesting,” he said.

Camilleri said Gordon Asciak had built a strong team which can advance even, perhaps, with some luck. “We are hopeful of winning more medals than in the recent editions when tennis took a back seat. Our prospects are not bad, but we are taking one match at a time and then see what happens,” he added.