Italian teams once again dominated the European Beach Tennis Championships, accounting for all of the titles on offer at the Santa Marina Holiday Village in Sozopol, where the event was hosted by the Bulgarian Tennis Federation.
As early as the penultimate day, it was clear that Italian teams would take home the lion´s share of the silverware, with both the men’s and women’s finals being all-Italian encounters.
The first of the finals to be decided was the men’s, which saw second seeds Luca Cramarossi & Marco Garavini upset the defending champion Michele Cappelletti and partner Luca Carli, by the score of 6-1 7-5, ending hopes of a World/European Championship double for the world’s top two players.
The win marks Garavini’s fifth men’s title at the European Beach Tennis Championships, while Cramarossi picks up his first crown. Carli & Cappelletti have now lost in the final on three occasions, with Garavini proving to be the stumbling block each time.
The women’s final also saw the second seeds upset the world’s two best players, as Sofia Cimatti & Flamina Daina eased past Eva D’Elia & Giulia Gasparri 6-3 6-2. The win marked a successful title defence for Cimatti, who won the tournament in 2015 alongside Federica Bacchetta, while Daina improved on her runner-up spot from last year.
There was consolation for D’Elia in the mixed doubles, where she helped Cramarossa claim his second title of this year’s championships. The top seeds were pushed all the way by Irina Glimakova & Ivan Syrov, but eventually managed to prevent a second successive Russian victory in the mixed championships with a 6-4 7-6 win, ensuring a clean sweep of titles for Italy for a ninth time in ten editions of the Championships.
This year’s Championships also saw the inclusion of a junior competition for the first time, with 36 18 & Under players from six nations in action. The three events – boys’, girls’ and mixed doubles – were held in a round-robin format with young Italians showing that their country looks set to be the dominant force in Beach Tennis for some time to come. Guiseppe Attolino & Andrea Banci claimed the boys’ title, while Greta Giusti & Veronica Casadei topped the girls’ league. Banci also teamed with Ninny Valentini to take the mixed doubles crown.
In all, a total of 20 Tennis Europe member nations were represented at the senior event, with 120 players forming 92 doubles teams.
Draws & Results
Men's Doubles | Women's Doubles | Mixed Doubles | Nations Ranking
Boys' Doubles | Girls' Doubles | Mixed Junior Doubles
Photo Gallery