18-year-old Francesca Curmi has become the first Maltese player to reach a final of a Futures event after beating Slovakian player Victoria Morvayova in Tunisia.

Curmi will now face Pole Weronika Falkowska in the final of the ITF tournament in Monastir on Sunday morning at 9:30am.

Curmi has won six matches to reach this point. 

A whitewash straight set win against Cosima Calinescu from France and a 6-4, 6-0 win against Belgian Clara Vlasselaer ensured that Curmi would make it out of the qualifying phase.

She defeated Belarussian Kristina Dmitruk 6-2, 7-6 to get into the Round of 16, where she beat Romanian Oana Gavrila with commanding scores of 6-1 and 6-3.

Japanese top seed Risa Ushijima was her next opponent in the quarter finals, and she broke her opponent’s serve five times en-route to a 6-4, 6-1 victory.

This win set up her semi-final against fifth seed Morvayova on Satruday.  Curmi won the first set 7-6 after a nail-biting tie break, and succeeded in winning the second set 6-3, hence propelling her into the final – a first for a Maltese tennis player – without dropping a single set.

He will face 20-year-old Falkowska in the final, who is also yet to drop a set in this tournament, but who also had to navigate a tough semi-final against Swiss player Valentina Ryser, where she too won 7-6 after a tiebreak and 6-3.

The Malta Tennis Federation wished Curmi the best of luck and encouraged all Maltese tennis enthusiasts to show their support for Malta’s next rising star in tennis.

“We augur that she puts in another great performance and that this serves as a stepping stone for a bright future - one that will be a testament for all the sacrifices and the hard work she is putting in”, the Federation said on Facebook.