by Maltese duo Francesca Curmi and Elaine Genovese returned to action in the ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour with a win against Spaniards Ruth Roura Llaverias and Marta Soriano Santiago. The round of sixteen match in the W25 tournament in Baza (Spain) was decided by a tie-break which Curmi & Genovese won by 10-6.
Spaniards Take First Set
Curmi & Genovese set themselves in a strong position by breaking the Spaniards’ serve in their opening two service games, and backing up one break with a hold to love in between, thus opening a 3-0 lead.
However, Roura Llaverias and Soriano Santiago got on the scoreboard in the next game, where although the Maltese duo cancelled two break points, they yielded the last one with a double fault. The Spaniards made the most of their ticket back into the match by backing the break with a hold and then levelling the score in the next game to 3-3.
Having gotten back into the match, Roura Llaverias and Soriano Santiago opened a two game point margin on serve, however Curmi and Genovese cancelled both to earn a deuce and a chance to break once more. Despite this, the Spaniards secured the hold in the deciding point. Returning on serve, Curmi & Genovese also appeared to be cruising to a hold at 40-0, before the hosts equalled the score. However, the Maltese also secured the deciding point to keep the set level at 4-4.
The final swing went to the Spaniards who held their serve in the next game without facing breakpoint to nudge forward 5-4. In doing so, they put pressure on the Maltese duo who had to serve to stay in the set. Roura Llaverias and Soriano Santiago raced to even the score at 30-30. They converted the first available set point to take the first set 6-4.
Maltese Even The Score
The Spaniards opened on serve and both teams held relatively unchallenged. Curmi and Genovese pounced on the next game to earn their first break in a set they needed to win, which they backed up with a hold to love, opening a 3-1 margin.
Although Roura Llaverias and Soriano Santiago managed to hold in the next game, the Maltese kept their break advantage in hand with relative ease. At 4-2, the Spaniards faced the pressure of a deciding point to avoid going two breaks down, which they managed. However, they could not even the scores in the next game, which Curmi & Genovese converted at 40-15. At 5-3, pressure was then on the Spaniards to stay in the set, but Curmi & Genovese made sure to send the match to a tie-breaker by converting the first of two available break points, taking the second set 6-3.
Tie-Breaker
A ten-point tie-break awaited the two teams. The two held in touch with each other for the opening half of the tie-breaker. However, at 5-5 the Maltese duo surged ahead to a 9-5 lead by notching four consecutive points on the board. Although Roura llaverias and Soriano Santiago cancelled one match point, Curmi & Genovese secured the ticket to the next round with the next point to take decider 10-6.
Next Matches
The win allows Curmi & Genovese to progress into the quarter-finals where they will next face Riya Bhatia and Olga Parres Azcoitia. The latter are the fourth seeds in the draw and will go into the match the fresher of the two teams after receiving a bye into the round.
Meanwhile, Francesca Curmi made her first appearance in the main draw in the singles’ tournament against qualifier Xenia Bandurowska, earlier today. Curmi won the match in straight sets 6-0, 6-2, to progress into the round of sixteen where she will face Maja Chwalinska.
Lead Image: Mario Mifsud
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