Italian teams once again swept the board at the European Beach Tennis Championships, walking away with all three major titles and adding the three junior titles for good measure.
The men’s event saw 2016 champions Luca Cramarossa & Marco Garavini successfully defend their title, with a hard-fought win over top seeded compatriots Michele Cappelletti & Luca Carli, a repeat of last year’s final. Everything hinged on a tight first set tie-break, which the second seeds eventually claimed 9-7 before securing a break in the second set to emerge as 7-6(7) 6-4 winners.
The win marked a second and fourth men’s gold for Cramarossa & Garavini respectively, neither of whom have ever lost a final at these championships. For Carli the result meant a third consecutive silver medal to add to his gold from 2012, while Cappelletti also holds four medals, including golds from 2012 and 2015.
The bronze medal went to Spanish pair Antomi Ramos & Saulo Tejada, who beat Nicolo Bombini & Alvisa Galli of San Marino 6-0 7-6(4).
The all-Italian women’s final produced the match of the tournament, as second seeds Federica Bacchetta & Gulia Gasparri recovered from a second set lapse to eventually overcome top seeded compatriots and defending champions Flaminia Daina & Sofia Cimatti 6-4 4-6 7-6(5).
The match was a third consecutive three-set encounter for the champions, who had also dropped sets against Capucine Rousseau & Catherine Henuzet of France in the quarterfinals and Darya Churakova & Irina Glimakova of Russia in the semis. The Russians went on the claim the bronze medal with a straight sets win over Elodie Vadel & Magalie Garnier of France in the play-off match.
Bacchetta therefore becomes the first woman to win four European Beach Tennis Championship titles, adding to wins in 2010, 2012 and 2015, while Gasparri – a beaten finalist in the past two editions – claims her first.
The mixed doubles event saw further joy for Bacchetta & Garavini as they paired up for a marathon 6-4 3-6 10:6 win over 2016 champions Cimatti & Cappelletti.
The junior events, which were inaugurated in 2016, showed that the future remains bright for Italy. Played in a round-robin format, the boys’ event saw Guiseppe Attolino & Mattia Spoto finish ahead of compatriots Marcello Zanon & Gianmarco Palmieri. A similar story emerged in the girls’ singles, where Ninni Valentini & Giulia Trippa edged ahead of Greta Giusti & Camila Spadoni to claim gold. And in the junior mixed event, Valentini & Attolino beat Giusti & Zanon 7-6(5) 6-2 in the final.
In total, players from 19 nations took part in this tenth edition of the European Beach Tennis Championships, which were hosted by the Bulgarian Tennis Federation in Sozopol at the Santa Marina Holiday Village for a second consecutive year.
Full draws and results can be found below.
Draws and Results
Men's Doubles | Women's Doubles | Mixed Doubles
Men's Consolation | Women's Consolation
Boys' Doubles | Girls' Doubles | Junior Mixed Doubles