World's best assemble for inaugural Sand Series Ribeirao Preto
The world’s top 10 men and women will descend on the state of Sao Paolo for the newest stop on the Sand Series, the inaugural Sand Series Ribeirao Preto.
Nikita Burmakin and Andre Baran will seek to continue their good form after picking up their first title of the season last week at the BT400 Abu Dhabi, where they toppled the top two teams in the world in Antomi Ramos and Michele Cappelletti plus Nicolas Gianotti and Mattia Spoto to take the win.
Mathieu Guegano and Maksimilians Andersons will also hope their good start to their new partnership continues, after finishing runner-up in Ras Al Khaimah and winning the title BT50 Pam Beach where they defeated Spoto and Gianotti in the final.
New partnerships see Doriano Beccaccioli and Tommaso Giovannini as well as Theo Irigaray and Thales Santos pair up for the first time since 2016 and 2020, respectively. Carlos Vigon and Ramon Guedez head to Brazil in good form and will take huge confidence in nearly ending world No. 1 pair Cappelletti and Ramos’ Réunion Classic winning streak, holding match point before falling 14-12 in the match tie break in the semi-finals.
Giulia Gasparri and Ninny Valentini will once again be the team to be beat on the women’s side, having put together a perfect 15-0 start to the season with titles at the Reunion Classic, BT200 Ras Al Khaimah 2 and Abu Dhabi.
They will be wary of Sofia Cimatti and Nicole Nobile, having faced off six times against their fellow Italians last year, winning four of those encounters. Patricia Diaz and Rafaella Miiller are back in action and will look to put the disappointment of failing to defend their Réunion Classic title behind them.
Though they fell to Cimatti and Nobile on the Plage des Brisants last month, they scored notable victories against the pair at last year’s Réunion Classic as well as at the World Championships.
The Sand Series Riberao Preto rests in the middle of BT400 tournaments at the BT400 Pure Beach in Marechal Deodoro and the Balneário Camboriú before the tour heads to Europe for the Sand Series Gran Canaria Classic, followed by the World Championships in Cesenatico in the Emilia-Romanga region of Italy.