Sand Series back where it all began in Saarlouis
The main draw of the final Sand Series of the regular season gets underway on Thursday with the top players in the world descending on the German Saarland for this next stop of the ITF Beach Tennis World Tour, coming full circle after the inaugural Sand Series event took place here last year.
The men’s draw has a very different look to last year’s tournament with all eight semi-finalists back in the draw with new partners. Last year’s champions Nikita Burmakin (seeded third) and Tommaso Giovannini (seeded fifth) find themselves in opposite halves of the draw with their new partners, Andre Baran (BRA) and Diego Bollettinari (ITA) respectively.
Giovannini is in the top half along with number one seeds Antomi Ramos Viera and Michele Cappelletti, who will be looking to improve on their quarter-final exit in 2021. Their quarter includes the recent BT400 Marechal Deodoro champions Allan Oliveira and Thales Santos while the top seeds are joined by Maksimilians Andersons and partner Gerard Querol who they narrowly beat in a match tie break at the inaugural BT400 in Parnu, Estonia last week.
World No. 1 Ramos is looking to record a better result than he has in the past in Saarlouis. “Twice I have played this tournament and twice I lost in the quarterfinals," the Spaniard said. "So to pass that barrier is the goal this year and to keep playing well.”
The bottom half of the draw is led by second seeds Mattia Spoto and Nicolas Gianotti. Spoto reached the semi-finals last year, losing to Marco Garavini and Theo Irigaray 14-12 in an incredibly tight match tie break. Garavini, playing with Vini Font, is a potential quarter-final opponent and will be looking to go one further than his runner up finish last year. The final quarter sees the Burmakin-Baran seed facing a potential match-up against 2021 runner up Irigaray and his partner Doriano Beccaccioli.
The women’s draw has a more familiar look with all four semi-finalist teams returning intact for this year’s tournament. Last year’s winners Sofia Cimatti and Nicole Nobile will be looking to continue their fine form this weekend, as the Sand Series Brasilia Classic champions look to claim their fourth title of the year together.
The number two seeds find themselves in the same half of the draw as another 2022 Sand Series winning partnership, the Sand Series Réunion Classic Champions Rafaella Miiller and Patricia Diaz. This could see a rematch of their class semi-final from a year ago, when Nobile-Cimatti triumphed 10-8 in a match tie break.
Cimatti and Nobile also find themselves in the same quarter as Veronica Casadei and Sophia Chow, with Chow being a recent winner of the BT400 Marechal Deodoro. Chow said: “Last year I followed the tournament over streaming channels so it feels great to be here competing this year. We are playing a Sand Series, the level is high and there is no easy match.”
The top half of the draw contains world number ones and top seeds Giulia Gasparri and Ninny Valentini. The 2021 runners up have been in fine form this year, claiming seven titles already in 2022, including the Sand Series Gran Canaria Classic and Sand Series Barcelona, as well as last weekend’s BT400 in Parnu, Estonia where they won an epic final against Cimatti and Nobile, saving championship points in the process. Seeded for a semi-final clash against the Italians are Brazilian fourth seeds, champions Vitoria Marchezini and Marcela Vita, who they also beat at the same stage last week in their Estonian winning run. The Brazilians will be keen for another chance to take on the world number ones, with the teams clashing on no fewer than eight occasions in 2022.
Whether new partnership or returning, there is quality throughout both draws and Saarlouis is in for a fantastic weekend of beach tennis.
The tournament will be live on Twitch from the quarter-finals on Friday afternoon, with all matches from Centre Court on the ITF YouTube channel from Friday morning.