Tennis Europe | European Beach Tennis Championships
2009 European Beach Tennis Championships
Italy reigns supreme as European Beach Tennis Champions
Having won all three available titles, Italy was unchallenged as the best-represented nation at the third European Beach Tennis
Championships, which were held in Cagliari, Italy from Friday 4th - Sunday 6th September 2009.
The title of the Women’s Doubles category was contested between two Italian pairs, the 2008 European and current World
champions Simona Briganti / Rossella Stefanello against Laura Olivieri, and her professional tennis playing partner Mara
Santangelo. The straight sets triumph (64 63) of Olivieri/ Santangelo marked the first of three Championship wins for Italian teams
on the final day.
Earlier that day Briganti / Stefanello had defeated the last non-Italian team, Kaleta / Rosolska from Poland in the semi finals.
The second semi final was an all-Italian match and saw No.2 seeds Olivieri/ Santangelo winning against the No. 3
seeds Storari / Vianello.
In the Men’s Doubles competition the only non-Italian team in the semi-finals were the powerful Spaniards Mir-Baucells
/ Montfort-Hernandez who lost against Felisatti / Fiocchi in straight sets. In the other half of the semi-final was
between No. 1 and 3 seeds De Filippi / Ludovici and Calbucci / Tazzari, won by the lower-ranked team over the current World Champions.
The 300 spectators saw an exciting 3-set final with Fabio Felisatti / Andrea Fiocchi showing their stamia in the final set to win their first European Championships title 64 46 63 against Calbucci / Tazzari.
The Mixed Final was also dominated by Italian players, with Calabucci / Briganti winning 61 63 over De Filippi / Stefanelli.
The two other teams in the semi-finals were Stakheev / Dranets of Russia and the Belgian team of Callebert / Van Der Spiegel.
Uncatchable Italy was the best-performing nation of the European Beach Championships. Fighting for second place, Russia gave its best
on the last day to accomplish the win of the Women’s Doubles Consolation and finish as runners-up in the Mixed Doubles competition.
The beach boys and girls from Cyprus defended their bronze medal against strong challenges from Belgium, Spain and Germany with good
performances in the Men’s and Women’s Doubles. First-time participant Spain showed their great potential and the final nation's ranking
leaves little doubt that there will be great progress from the many up-and-coming Beach Tennis nations in the near future.
The Italian Tennis Federation, together with Charlymax, once again organised a fantastic event at the beautiful Poetto Beach
in Sardinia. The increased participation of 16 European countries and almost 100 participants shows that Beach Tennis is on the
rise in Europe and Tennis Europe wishes to thank all the organisers, supporters and helping hands and sends congratulations
to the new European Beach Tennis Champions!
Click here for further news from the International Tennis Federation's site.