Nine editions and eight finals. There is no denying that Italy are the global powerhouse of beach tennis, but they will face the reigning champions on home soil when the ITF Beach Tennis World Cup final kicks off on Sunday.

The Europeans qualified for the World Cup showpiece after beating Spain 3-0 on Copacabana Beach and now the team in blue will be attempting to clinch a fifth title.

World champions Giulia Gasparri and Ninny Valentini proved too good for Eva Palos and Sabrina Lopez, winning 6-1 6-4, before Marco Garavini returned from a rest day on Friday to partner Marco Faccini in a comeback victory over Antomi Ramos and Gerard Querol 7-6(5) 6-4 to book Italy’s place in the final.

"It was a very difficult match,” said former world No. 1 and beach tennis legend Garavini. “Antomi [Ramos] and Gerard [Querol] is a strong team. It’s the first time I played with Marco and we won in two sets, which was good - now we arrive warmer for the final."

Faccini added: "It was a crazy match, the first set was very tight, we played better in the second set and we are very happy to be playing the final."

Garavini admitted he wanted to play Brazil in the final on Sunday, mainly because the crowd will create a fantastic atmosphere, but also because he felt as though the hosts will go into the final as favourites.

Alex Mingozzi’s team booked their place in the final when Andre Baran and Vini Font clinched an emphatic match tiebreak in the men’s doubles against Nikita Burmakin and Nikolai Gurev to triumph 6-7(5) 6-3 [10-1].

In the opening match Brazil’s women’s pairing of Rafaella Miiller and Marcela Vita were too strong for Daria Churakova and Liudmila Nikoian, pulling through 6-2 6-1.

Baran said: "We always have this doubt who's gonna play, the characteristic, but we expected this duo, we know their style of play and that they will be aggressive and controlling the net.

"Gurev was incredible in the first set, smothering, and we were stepping back, letting them get comfortable. [Alex] Mingozzi was talking all the time to cut their time and this was happening little by little and we were starting to dominate the court after the break in the second set." 

Looking ahead to the men's doubles tomorrow, Baran added: "It will be a difficult match, everybody knows each other, we gonna sit down and talk, have to enter very intense and with lots of energy trying a lot to lift this trophy."

Captain Mingozzi gave his thoughts on Italy: "It's gonna be a very different outcome. We gonna start against the best women's doubles [team] in the world, but we can do a great match and in men's doubles if the guys play like this second set today, with this intensity, we have a good chance of winning. Maybe we will have a deciding mixed doubles tomorrow."

Sunday’s final will start at 7pm local time. It will be the sixth time Brazil and Italy have faced each other in an ITF Beach Tennis World Cup Final. The Brazilian team will be looking for a fourth title and will be competing in a seventh final overall. 

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