History has been made at the 2022 ITF Beach Tennis World Cup after Venezuela defeated Latvia on the sands of Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach to reach the tournament’s semi-finals for the first time.

Venezuela surged into a 1-0 lead following an electric women’s doubles match during which Paty Diaz and Gabriela Anzola saved match point before prevailing 4-6 6-1 15-13 against Greta Veinberga and Anna Aleksjuka.

The success of Diaz and Anzola laid the foundations for Venezuela's victory as Ramon Guedez and Carlos Vigón joined forces to great effect in the men’s doubles to dispatch Jevgenijs Feldmans and Nikita Ribakovs 6-2 6-3. Italy await in the last four.

“We were pressured because it was a good chance to qualify for our first ITF Beach Tennis World Cup semi-final,” Guedez told itftennis.com.

“Our best previous result was fifth in 2015, so now we have beaten that record we are so happy. A huge amount of work from all the players has gone into making this happen and now we look forward to our semi-final.

“Italy has gigantic players and are favourites, but when the play starts you never know, anything can happen in beach tennis. As we did against France in our opening tie, we are going to try and play without pressure. We are going to fight to be in the final.”

Italy booked their own place in the semi-finals by thrashing Germany 3-0, with world No. 1s Giulia Gasparri and Ninny Valentini once again underlining their class by brushing aside Maraike Biglmaier and Margarete Pelster 6-1 6-3.

Michelle Cappelletti and Mattia Spoto had greater difficulty in the men’s doubles but still prevailed 6-4 6-4 to fire the four-time champions into an unassailable lead as their march towards silverware continues with significant flair.

“We will play Venezuela and we expect a difficult tie,” Spoto told itftennis.com. “We are always focused to play better and I am sure we will do a good job tomorrow.”

Spain are also through to the semi-finals after beating France, although they will have to wait to find out their last-four opponents after the showdown between Brazil and Puerto Rico was delayed by lightning. Hosts and defending champions Brazil were in the ascendancy, however.

Elsewhere, the showdown between Spain and France went the distance and was settled by Antomi Ramos and Eva Palos in the mixed doubles as they united to outmanoeuvre Nicolas Gianotti and Marie-Eve Hoarau 6-4 6-0.

Earlier, Palos and Sabrina Lopez has fired Spain into the lead by beating Marie-Eve Hoarau and Lola Barrau 6-3 6-2, only for Theo Irigaray and Gianotti to haul France with a tense 6-4 7-6(5) victory over Ramos and Saulo Tejada.

“It was a very difficult tie,” Ramos told itftennis.com. “We’ve played so well in the mixed doubles. Eva played a lot and we must congratulate her. It’s because of her that we found our best level.”

Brazil’s showdown with Puerto Rico will be concluded early on Saturday. Brazil currently lead 1-0 following victory in the women’s doubles and are 3-0 up in the opening set of the men’s doubles.

Juniors joy for Venezuela; Rosichini support 

It is proving a fabulous week for Venezuela after their junior team reached the final where they will face Italy.

Italy navigated their semi-final clash against Germany with considerable ease, winning 3-0, and while the title is very much at the forefront of their minds, so is teammate Damiano Rosichini.

Rosichini was an influential presence as Italy conquered all before them to claim the junior title here 12 months ago, but was involved in a serious car crash in June and remained in a coma for a month.

Now recovering, his teammates are fighting for him on court and display a flag which reads, ‘Forza Dami, sempre con noi’.

“Damiano is our friend and brought the title for us last year,” Italy captain Michele Folegatti told itftennis.com. “He had a car accident this year and was in a very bad situation. He was in a coma but is improving and will be back soon. We are here playing for him.”

Photo credit: Marcello Zambrana/DGW