The Sand Series BrasÍlia Classic saw some tough openers for many of the top seeds after last night’s draw in Brazil’s capital. Doriano Beccaccioli and Tommaso Giovannini who were champions at the most recent Sand Series at the Gran Canaria Classic last month face a tricky opening match when they face Fabricio Neis and Daniel Schmitt.

Neis is no stranger to the winning feeling this season having won five titles at BT10 and BT50 level this year on the Beach Tennis World Tour as well as two runner up finishes at BT200 level in Indaiatua and Vila Velha. It was at the latter of these that Schmitt came out on top of as well as collecting another title earlier in the year.

Recent World Champions Nicolas Gianotti and Mattia Spoto, could face a tough second round match against the standout newcomer team of the season in Gustavo Russo and Giovanni Cariani. The French-Italian pair took an early round loss to the duo as they won the BT200 Guaruja in February, where they also beat world No. 1 pair Antomi Ramos and Michele Cappelletti on their title-winning run, who are the defending champions here this week. Russo and Cariani backed up this win in April when they were crowned BT400 Balneario Camboriú a phenomenal run that included taking their last three victories with match tie-breaks to win the title. All three of these teams open up against qualifiers on Thursday.

Andre Baran and Nikita Burmakin also have a tricky opener against Gabriel Santos and Hugo Paronetto Russo. The Brazilian pair had a memorable run to the final of the BT400 Pure Beach, missing out narrowly in a match tie break. Baran and Burmakin are no strangers to tricky openers and succumbed to one in their first match at the World Championships last month in an epic 12-14 match tie break including holding a match point in the decider.

Meanwhile, World Champions Rafaella Miiller and Patricia Diaz top the bill on the women’s side and on a ten match winning streak as they look to improve on their back-to-back semi-final showings at this tournament. To better that semi-final showing they may have to face  Sophia Chow and Vitoria Marchezini in that round - their opponents in the Gran Canaria Classic final and the only team to take a set off them in their ten match streak.

In the bottom half, Flaminia Daina and Nicole Nobile will face back-to-back qualifiers in their opening rounds and will look to build on the two titles they took early last season in BT200 Matinhos and BT400 Balneário Rincão. However a tough quarter-final awaits in the form of Veronica Casadei and Greta Giusti, who recently finished in Third Place at the World Championships as well as Runners Up at the inaugural Sand Series Ribeirão Preto. Fourth seeds Sofia Cimatti and Eva Fernandez Palos open up against Beatriz Rivera and Lady Esther Correa before facing the highly experienced Eva D'Elia and Veronica Visani who is a former World Champion.

The Sand Series Brasília Classic will feature live scoring from the first round as well as live streaming from the quarter-finals onwards with more information available on the tournament page.