Cappelletti and Ramos Viera lay down a marker at World Championships
No. 1 seeds Michele Cappelletti and Antomi Ramos Viera sent a message to the rest of the men’s field with a 6-0 6-0 demolition of French pair Mathieu Guegano and Guillaume Leruste in the second round of the ITF Beach Tennis World Championships in Terracina on Thursday.
The Italian-Spanish combination paired up at the end of 2020 and have been in fine form, picking up three titles, including the BT400 Kazan trophy in July
Ramos, who joked that he and his partner were in “fire mode” today, said: “We make a really good match against the second team of France. They played well, but we didn’t let them play their game. We make a really serious match and we’re really happy about our game right now. We hope to keep this level on the court.”
There was better news for the best French pair in the men’s game, as Nicolas Gianotti and Theo Irigaray overcame Davide Benussi and Alessio Chiodioni 6-0 6-4 to set up a quarter-final with seventh seeds Maksimilians Niklass Andersons and Gerard Rodriguez Querol.
Andre Baran, fresh from his victory in the mixed doubles final alongside Rafaella Miiller last night, partnered Vini Font to a 6-4 6-4 win in their second round match against fellow Brazilians Alex Mingozzi and Daniel Schmitt in the last match on Centre Court.
The No. 3 seeds will face more countrymen in the last eight when they take on Allan Oliveira and Thales Santos on Friday.
Nikita Burmakin and Tommaso Giovannini progressed 6-0 7-5 against Hugo Paronetto Russo and Gustavo Russo, letting four match points slip at 6-0 5-2 before finding a way to close out the match.
The Russian-Italian combination, who are one of the favourites for the title, will face Diego Bollettinari and Marco Faccini in the quarter-finals after the Italians made light work of Nikolei Gurev and Ivan Syrov.
In the women’s event, the semi-finals are set and they should be top-class contests with No. 1 seeds Sofia Cimatti and Nicole Nobile taking on No. 3 seeds Patricia Diaz and Rafaella Miiller and No. 2 seeds Giulia Gasparri and Ninny Valentini against No. 4 seeds Joana Cortez and Flaminia Daina.
Diaz said: “They are amazing players and we respect and like them a lot. I’m sure they want to win as much as we want to win so it will be, in my opinion, a big, big fight. I hope to bring to the public a nice show.”
Miiller added: “We lost the last match but tomorrow will be different!”