Italy's boys and Russia's girls dominate junior events in Cervia

Italian pairs won the boys' titles in all three age groups in the junior events the ITF Beach Tennis World Championships, while Russia claimed a clean sweep of the girls' titles in Cervia.

Known as two of the powerhouses of the sport, the performances of Italy's and Russia's junior players proved that there is a huge amount of emerging talent ready to break through to the professional game in the years ahead.

All three of the boys' finals were contested by Italian pairs, with Nicolo Bretagni and Mattia Gridella defeating Alessandro Branchini and Nicolo Chiampo 4-2 5-3 to win the 18 & under title, Giacomo Gabellini and Andrea Nuti defeating Matteo Baroni and Mattia Bazzi 5-3 2-4 4-2 to win the 16 & under title, and Luca Andreolini and Nicolo Baldini defeating Tommaso Marangoni and Matteo Venturi 4-0 1-4 5-4(1) to win the 14 & under title.

Both Bretagni/Gridella and Gabellini/Nuti will be eligible for the 18 & under category in 2018, raising the intriguing prospect of a match-up between two pairs of defending champions next year.

"We hope it will be a great year," Gridella said. "We have all the chances, we'll hope [it will be] good.

Gabellini and Nuti, along with the many other exciting prospects who will enter the higher age category next year, will be eager to pit themselves against this year's champions in 2018.

Nuti explained the pair's plans ahead of next year's competition. "I think [we will train] in the same way as we usually train," he said when asked what preparations they would make over the coming months. "Working out both in winter and in summer and doing our best."

In the girls' competitions, Ekaterina Kamenetckaia and Veronika Pershina defeated the Italian- Sammarinese pair of Asia Binelli and Marika Colonna 4-5(4) 4-0 4-2 to win the 18 & under title, and Ekaterina Glazkova and Anna Romanova defeated Italians Giorgia Cancellieri and Claudia Lazzarini 1-4 5-3 4-1 to win the 16 & under title.

Agniia Bogatova and Daria Kalichinina won the girls' 14 & under title after winning all four of their matches to top their round-robin group, ahead of Italians Arianna Cermaria and Renzi Giulia.