Spain’s beach tennis stars dominate at national championships

Spain’s highest-ranked players retained their titles at the Spanish Beach Tennis Championships, which took place in Gran Canaria on 22-25 April.

World No. 4 Antomi Ramos partnered with fellow Top 10 beach tennis star Gerard Rodriguez to win their fifth straight national title and sixth overall after defeating local pair Saulo Tejada and Victor Lopez 6-0 6-3 in the men’s final. For Ramos it was an 11th title and his 10th consecutive victory in the competition (with different partners).

The women’s event also went the way of the highest-ranked pairing. But world No. 22 Eva Fernandez and No. 24 Omayra Farias were made to work hard for their victory over Sabrina Lopez Garcia and Ganesha Diaz 2-6 6-3 [10-7].

The finals of this event were notable not just because of the match action but also because they were shown live on free-to-air TV channel Teledeporte for the first time in the competition’s history.

With an extraordinary 445 matches played by more than 300 participants, the 19th edition of the Spanish Beach Tennis Championship is not just a way to promote the sport of beach tennis on Spanish soil.

The national coach was paying close attention to the pairings in order to determine who will represent Spain at the Beach Tennis World Cup, which is due to take place later this year. The World Cup replaces what used to be known as the Beach Tennis World Team Championships.

And one young player, in particular, will have made selectors take notice. Fourteen-year-old Daniela Rodriguez overcame Fernandez 7-5 in the final of the women’s singles event and also won the under 18 title.

In the men’s singles event, which was only taking place for the second year, Ramos took the title with a 7-4 victory over his partner Rodriguez.

“We are delighted with the organisation of this tournament,” said RFET sporting director Javier Soler. “We have increased the number of competitors that we had playing in the same event last year, and the atmosphere that we witnessed here was fantastic, the level of play was incredibly high and we, as a federation, are extremely happy to have incorporated this venue for the Spanish championship.”