Eight teams have already qualified for the ITF Beach Tennis World Cup quarter-finals with winner-takes-all ties set for all Groups on Thursday in Rio.

Hosts Brazil closed out the last tie of the day in front of a full crowd and an electric atmosphere on Centre Court to take down Venezuela 2-0 to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Joana Cortez and Rafaella Miiller faced a little trouble in the first set down 2-4 but managed to regroup to win the set and the match 6-4 6-2 against Patricia Diaz and Lady Correa.

The match featured three former No. 1s with Miiller taking on her regular partner on tour Diaz. "Of course we know each other pretty well, but here is Brazil against Venezuela so i just focus on the match, the strategy and don't think about those things. I can separate it," said Miiller, who won the Gran Canaria Sand Series title alongside Diaz before coming to the World Cup.

Cortez added: "The match started a little bit tense, we knew it would be tough because the Venezuelan girls are very good. The key was the game to go 4-3 that could have been 5-2 for them. After that, we started to play good on the deciding moments."

Andre Baran and Vinicius Font had a difficult match but survived against big server Ramon Guedez and Carlos Vignon 4-6 6-1 [10-7]. The Venezuelan pair tied the match tie-break at 7-7, but the Brazilian duo managed to finish off after an unforced error.

"Playing against Venezuela is always difficult," said Font. "They are always in our way in World Cups and they're also our good friends. Today it was in the heart, we showed we are Brazilian." 

Brazil and Germany, who rolled past Mexico 3-0 to book their place in the last 8, will now face off for the first position of Group B. Font remembered the difficult tie in 2018 with the European team.

"Tomorrow another good battle against the German guys. We were down match points a few years ago to get a plane back to Brazil, but we came back and won the World Cup later on. So we have another difficult and decisive tie against them."

Earlier on Wednesday, Italy defeated Japan 3-0 with world No. 1 and Terracina world champion, Giulia Gasparri and world No. 4 Sofia Cimatti easing to a 6-3 6-0 victory over Erina Otsuka and Eri Homma. Marco Garavini and Mattia Spoto completed a 6-2 6-2 win against Atsuya Maki and Ryota Miyagi. In the mixed doubles, Ninny Valentini and Marco Faccini had an easy time with a 6-0 6-0 win over Homma and Miyagi.

A legend in beach tennis with 61 titles to his name, including two world titles, Garavini wants to get Brazil into the final to be in with a chance of lifting the trophy again for Italy. The European team, four-time champions, last won the event in 2017.

"It was a good victory today,” said 37-year-old Garavini. “Not easy to play in this Centre Court, the ball references are not easy. The team wants to practice more on this Centre Court to be more adapted to beat every team here and get to the final. I want to face Brazil and I want to win. I have expectations." 

Garavini and Gasparri are both enjoying their first experience of the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro. "It’s an incredible structure,” added Garavini. “I like Brazilian people, Brazilian crowd, the atmosphere, the organization is one of the best in the world.

“This place is wonderful, I’ve never seen any Centre Court like that, so big. It’s the first time the World Cup is in Brazil - this is a good chance to grow beach tennis."

Italy will face France on Thursday to decide the first place in Group A. Both teams have already qualified after France beat Ecuador 2-1 on Wednesday. 

In Group C, Spain and Chile have already qualified. The Spanish team lost the men’s doubles match against Portugal with Antomi Ramos and Gerard Querol losing to Henrique Freitas and Pedro Maio 2-6 6-4 [10-6]. Ramos and Eva Palos sealed the Spanish victory with a 6-1 6-0 win in the mixed doubles against Freitas and Manuela Cunha.

Chile qualified after beating Curaçao 2-0. Both teams will face each other for top spot in Group C on Thursday.  

In Group D, Russian Tennis Federation and Aruba qualified for the last 8 in Copacabana and will face each other for first place on Thursday.

The RTF team finished 3-0 against Puerto Rico. They started well with Daria Churakova and Liudmila Nikoian marking a 6-1 6-1 win over Sofia Lopez and Beatriz Riviera. The men's doubles match saw a difficult first set. The Caribbean team looked good, but Nikita Burmakin and Maxim Ionin bounced back to take the match 7-6(6) 6-1.

Former world No. 1 Burmakin said: "The structure is amazing, looks very good. We came here expecting many crowd on the matches, it is what expected. We've expected also sunny days, yesterday was rainy and today cloudy unfortunately, hope it gets better also."

Aruba beat Bulgaria 2-1 finishing the tie on the electric men's doubles match with Aksel Samardzic and Sander Castro winning 6-3 4-6 [10-8] against Emil Argirov and Dimitar Simeonov.

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