Hosts Brazil booked their place in the semi-finals at the ITF Beach Tennis World Cup with a comfortable 3-0 win against Chile under the floodlights on Copacabana beach.

Joana Cortez and Marcela Vita made light work of Paolo Basaure and Maria Paz Orellana 6-1 6-1 before Vini Font and Thales Santos teamed up to score the winning point in the men's doubles with a 6-4 6-0 victory against Alexander Beller and Rolly Cabezes. Rafaella Miiller and Andre Baran - rested for women's and men's doubles - teamed up for a 4-0 4-0 win in the shortened mixed doubles match against Javiera Veloso and Victor Velasquez.

Thales Santos said: "The Chilean duo entered with no pressure, smashing the ball, serving hard, and we were trying to get into the match. We got there when our captain helped us with some wise words. We started to return better and, when we won the first set, the match changed and they didn't come back."

Brazil v Russian Tennis Federation was the last World Cup final back in 2019 in Moscow when the Brazilian team won 2-1. Vini Font looked ahead to the tie and the differences that can favour the home team. 

"Nikita is Nikita," he said. "We have Vini Font, Rafa Miller, [Andre] Baran, Joana [Cortez], Marcela [Vita], Thales Santos... the squad is united, we are strong and we have what they don't have, the crowd. That will make the difference tomorrow, for sure.

"Our team is more balanced than most of the others, Russian Tennis Federation depends more on Nikita. Our captain is using the team in a good way. He rested Baran today so he can be in good shape for tomorrow. It is an advantage. This strategy is working pretty well, I hope it continues like that."

Marcela Vita added: "RTF is very strong, they have the World Champion, the girls are so good also, experienced. It will be a hard tie, we are going to give our best for a place in the final." 

RTF sealed their semi-final spot after defeating France 2-1. Daria Churakova and Liudmila Nikoian rolled past Anne Bigot and Severine Bouchacourt 6-1 6-3. Then, Theo Irigaray and Nicolas Gianotti levelled the tie after beating world champion Nikita Burmakin and Nikolai Gurev 6-4 7-6(3). In the all-important mixed doubles, Churakova and Burmakin beat Mathieu Guegano and Pauline Mannarino 6-1 6-2.

"We know that Team France is strong, we tried to show our best game,” said Churakova. “In mixed doubles I have played with Nikita for many years so we just know that if we do our best we can win." 

Burmakin is pleased with his team’s performance today and believes his side will have to be at their best to overcome Brazil on Saturday.

"Really happy to win this tie,” he explained. “The girls won; we expected them to win. France has a terribly strong men’s doubles team. I think we did a good job, lost on the tie-break of the second set. We love to play mixed, we have experience and power to play and it worked today.

“Brazil will be really hard for us. The women’s team of Brazil is amazing, the men’s are one of the strongest and also in the mixed they are world champions. It’s going to be terribly difficult, but we’re going to fight."

Churakova added: "We know the Brazilian girls, we don’t know who’s going to play because they have a great team - all three are great - as are the guys. We going to talk with the captain and decide what is the plan."

Top seeds Italy started strongly against Aruba with Giulia Gasparri and Ninny Valentini dispatching Dominique Hopman and Maria Buuts 6-0 6-0 in just 35 minutes. The Italian duo have only lost two matches so far this season.

Italian captain Simona Bonadonna opted for Marco Facinni for both men’s and mixed doubles instead of Marco Garavini. The Italians suffered a little scare in the men’s doubles with Aksel Samardzic and Sander Castro beating Facinni and Matthia Spoto 7-5 7-5 [11-9].

The Italians saved two match points, but the Aruban duo finished the match at the third attempt. Then, Giulia Gasparri and Facinni had a good performance to secure Italy’s place in the semi-finals 6-0 6-3 against Samardzic and Hopman.

"It was a hard tie,” said Faccini. “But we won a good match in the mixed with good feelings and we are ready for the semi-final."

The Italians, four-time ITF Beach Tennis World Cup champions, are trying to lift the trophy for the first time since 2017 and will get Spain in Saturday’s semi-finals. World No. 1 Gasparri is ready for a battle.

"We have to fight,” she said. “We played good matches today, our opponents also. We are improving our game day by day and this is the way to go to the final."

Spain came back against Germany moving through to the quarter-finals with a 2-1 win on Court 1 of the Copacabana Arena. In the women’s doubles, Maraike Biglmaier and Margarete Pelster defeated Eva Palos and Ganesha Diaz 6-1 6-4. World No. 4 Antomi Ramos and Saulo Tejada scored an important win to level the tie, overcoming the Ringlstetter brothers 7-5 1-6 [10-3]. The German duo were leading the first set with a break, but the Spanish team turned it around.

Ramos and Palos won the mixed 6-2 6-1 against Manuel Ringlstetter and Biglmaier. Manuel called the physio with an ankle issue in the middle of the second set.

Spain’s captain Carles Vicent was in a buoyant mood after the match. "In the World Cup all ties are tough, maybe our group was a little bit easier, but today was a harder one cause they have a very good women’s doubles - better than us - but we’ve managed to win the mixed with an excellent level."

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s tie, he added: "We are in the semi-finals, we are very happy. Tomorrow we are going to be ready to fight, we want the gold, we want to be World Cup champions and because of that we are going to fight with humility and to make our team proud." 

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