Some of the top seeds were dealt tricky routes to make deep runs at the Sand Series Saarlouis Classic after last night’s draw with play getting underway later today.

Whilst World Champions Nicolas Gianotti and Mattia Spoto open against qualifiers Ricardo Garcia Dos Santos and Daniel Friedrichsen Canellas they will be wary of Giovanni Cariani and Gustavo Russo landing in their quarter.

The Brazilian pair have won two titles this year at the BT200 Guaruja and the  BT400 Balneário Camboriú both in stunning fashion, defeating the top seeds at the time of Michele Cappelletti and Antomi Ramos as well as defeating Gianotti and Spoto at the former in a match tie-break.

However to get there, Cariani and Russo will have to get past former World Number One Alessandro Calbucci  and his partner Ralff Abreu, before a possible second round match against sixth seeds Mathieu Guegano and Daniel Mola

Whilst the second quarter of the draw will see Antomi Ramos and Tommaso Giovannini’s new partnership with a tricky opener against Flavio Arouca and Hugo Cesar Dojas, the standout opener of this section pits eight seeds  Marco Garavini and Ramon Guedez against Gabriel Santos and Gerard Rodriguez Querol who last week were runners up at the BT100 LTE Beach Tennis Cup in Gydnia, Poland.

The bottom half of the draw is led by  André Baran and Michele Cappelletti, playing together for the first time and open against Paul Gotarda and Maxime Moretto. The second seeds will be conscious of Moretto not shying away from the big stage after he scored a huge upset against Theo Irigaray and Doriano Beccaccili in the opening round of the Réunion Classic earlier this year. Also in the bottom half are Doriano Beccaccioli and Nikita Burmakin who face a tricky opener themselves against Diego Bollettinari and Marco Faccini, as well as Maksimilians Andersons and Theo Irigaray who would await Beccaccioli-Burmakin in the quarter-finals with the pair recently enjoying a strong title run at the recent BT200 Seebad Ahlbeck.

Meanwhile on the women’s side top seeds Patricia Diaz and Rafaella Miiller  open against qualifiers Debora Madile and Victoria Ribeiro. Also in their half are Veronica Casadei and Greta Giusti who the pair had to see off in the semi-finals of the World Championships earlier this year, though the Italians would have to navigate past Vitoria Marchezini  and Sophia Chow in the quarter-finals to set that tantalising World Championship re-match.

The bottom half of the draw could see a blockbuster second round between Giulia Gasparri and Sofia Cimatti against local favourite Maraike Biglmaier and Eva Fernandez Palos should both teams navigate their opener. Whoever emerges from that section unscathed might then face Julia Nogueira and Marcela Vita in the quarter-finals.

However the standout tie of the opening round seeds World Championship Runners Up Ariadna Costa Graell and Elena Francesconi pitted against  Michela Romani and Noemi Romani with the Italian sisters coming out on top against Francesconi earlier this summer at the BT100 Silvi International Beach Tennis Open. The winners of that tie would then be projected to face Flaminia Daina and Nicole Nobile  in the quarter-finals who have reached the semi-finals in the last four tournaments they’ve played at the BT200 Itumbiara, BT200 Seebad Ahlbeck, Sand Series Pärnu, and BT400 St Georges de Didonne.

The Main Draw action gets underway today with live streaming of the Quarter Finals on Play BT (Portuguese) and the ITF YouTube Channel (English) from Saturday, 19 August.