On Wednesday, in the round of 32, Francesca, currently ranking at Number 1179 in the Women’s Tennis Association standings, dispatched promising Italian 17-year old Lara Pfeiffer (ranked 1375) in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.

Then she had a much harder nut to crack, meeting the tournament’s 4th seed French 25-year-old Victoria Muntean (WTA rank 622).

Francesca started well winning a hard-fought first set 7-5, only to see her adversary responding strongly to win the second set 6-4.

But Francesca was not to be denied, producing some splendid tennis in the third set to win it 6-4.

The quarter-final was another balanced affair against Spanish 22-year-old Noelia Bouzo Zanotti (ranked at no. 837).

Francesca did not start well losing the first set 6-3, but having taken the measure of her adversary, she shifted gears in the following sets, winning them comprehensively 6-2, 6-3.

She was then presented with her toughest task during Saturday’s semi-final, being drawn against tournament number two seed, Fangzhou Liu. The Chinese 26-year-old occupies WTA ranking number 529.

The first set was extremely balanced with Liu however managing to break Francesca’s serve in the decisive 10th game to win the set 6-4.

But that was just the beginning as Francesca responded in kind to dominate the next two sets, allowing her adversary just four games in all, 6-2, 6-2.

Now another demanding task awaits Curmi in tomorrow’s final against Italian 23-year-old Angelica Raggi, the tournament 5th seed, ranked number 654 by the WTA, who has also been in splendid form throughout this past week.

Lovin Malta wishes Francesca the best of luck for tomorrow’s final