Theo Irigaray & Mathieu Guegano of France backed up their sensational semi-final win over world #1s and defending champions Luca Cramarossa & Marco Garavini to become the first ever non-Italian winners of a men's European Beach Tennis Championship title on Sunday.
In the final they faced Russian third seeds Nikita Burmakin & Sergey Kuptsov, who were coming off their own semi-final upset, having outlasted Michele Cappelletti & Luca Carli in the match of the tournament, a 7-6 5-7 7-5 victory that took almost three hours.
There was nothing to separate the two teams in the early stages of the match, but once the French pair edged a first set tie break 7-5 there was no looking back, a single break in the 10th game of the second set was enough to clinch the title and a famous victory for the French pair.
In a rematch of last year’s final, Cramarossa & Garavini later dropped just two games against Cappelletti & Carli to claim the bronze medal, 6-1 6-1.
The women’s final was another re-match of a 2017 final, but saw the result reversed as Sofia Cimatti & Flaminia Daina eased past compatriots and top seeds Federica Bacchetta & Giulia Gasparri 7-5 6-0. The victory marked a second European title for the pair, who also won in 2016, and keeps alive Italy’s streak of having won gold at all previous editions of the women’s tournament.
The mixed doubles saw final produced a titanic battle between four Italians in what was arguably the best match of the final day. Michele Cappelletti & Giulia Gasparri emerged triumphant after a 20-point champion’s tie-break to claim the gold medals over Garavini & Daina 7-6(5) 0-6 [11-9]. The win ensured that despite the surprise victory for the French men, Italy would finish top of the Nations Ranking once again.
A total of 122 players from 21 nations were in action at this twelfth edition of the European Beach Tennis Championships, which was hosted by the Latvian Tennis Union in Jurmala.
For a third consecutive year, a junior event was held alongside the main tournament, with all three gold medals claimed by Italian teams. Unseeded Giacomo Gabellini & Andrea Nuti ousted Riccardo Manenti & Andrea Reginato 6-4 7-5 to claim the boys title, while top seeds Greta Giusti & Giulia Trippa beat Russians Yana Lavrenteva & Veronika Pershina 6-2 7-5 to win the girls’. The victory was a second for each player, with Giusti having won in 2016 and Trippa last year. Manenti later teamed up with Camila Spadoni to claim the junior mixed title over Gabellini & Giusti.
Draws and Results
Men's Doubles | Women's Doubles | Mixed Doubles
Boys' Doubles | Girls Doubles | Junior Mixed Doubles
Nations Ranking | Photo Gallery