Tough draw for defending champions at Sand Series Gran Canaria Classic
The Sand Series Gran Canaria Classic is set for some intriguing ties following Thursday night’s draw. The tournament’s 15th edition gets underway today.
Top seeds Antomi Ramos and Michele Cappelletti may well have to dispatch recent BT400 Pure Beach finalists Hugo Paronetto Russo and Gabriel Santos just to make the quarter-finals, as they look to capture back-to-back Sand Series Classic titles after their Réunion Classic triumph in March.
The world No.1s, who were champions here in 2021, will this week look to get their season back on track but will also have to navigate a showdown with Maks Andersons and Mathieu Guegano – one of the standout new teams of the campaign – in order to repeat their final showing of the last two years.
Andersons and Guegano, meanwhile, will have to make their way past Leonardo Garrossino Branco and Joao Wiesinger to make the quarters. But the Brazilian pair will fancy their chances this week, having both picked up a title at the BT200 Indaiatube and the BT200 Ras Al Khaimah 2 respectively in recent months.
Whoever advances from the top quarter of the draw could have the formidable task of facing defending champions Nicolas Gianotti and Mattia Spoto, who last year won the Gran Canaria Classic with the loss of just eleven games.
The pair have picked up two titles this year at Ras Al Khaimah 2 and BT400 Pure Beach, although they will want to avenge their 2022 World Championship final loss, especially with this year’s around the corner next week in Cessenatico.
Andre Baran and Nikita Burmakin will also be hot on everyone’s heels, with the pair currently occupying their highest seeding as a pair at No. 2 as they chase their second Sand Series (and third title overall) of the year after triumphs in Abu Dhabi and the Sand Series Ribeirão Preto
On the women’s side, defending champions Giulia Gasparri and Ninny Valentini have been dealt a punchy opener as they face former world No. 1 Maraike Biglmaier, who is partnering Margarete Pelster.
The world No. 1s may be thankful that the team that dealt them their only loss of the year landed on the opposite side of the draw as Rafaella Miiller and Patricia Diaz face a tricky opener themselves against Samantha Barijan and Isadora Pansani Simoes, who together won the BT50 HIIT World Tour Sao Paolo in April.
However, Gasparri and Valentini will also be wary of Veronica Casadei and Greta Giusti landing in their half after facing off against their fellow Italians in the Ribeirão Preto final last month.
The intriguing Italian match-ups reach both ends of the women’s draw, with second seeds Sofia Cimatti and Nicole Nobile drawing the Romani sisters in round one, who have not lost before the quarter-finals this year and picked up a title at the BT100 Cascais last month. Four-time Sand Series Winners Cimatti and Nobile are looking to win their first title of the season.