For all those tennis aficionados out there, one competition you cannot afford to miss this summer is the III SEAT Open de Portugal Beach Tennis, which will be held today and tomorrow (August 25 and August 26) at Praia da Rocha, in Portimão. The event is sponsored by Premier Sports, who recently organised the Vale do Lobo Grand Champions Millennium bcp and the Portuguese Tennis Federation.
This third tournament is set to be even more exciting than the last two, with doubles teams from Portugal, England, Spain and Brazil competing to determine the beach tennis kings! The Portuguese doubles team has won the tournament for the last two years and is hoping to make it a hat trick, with the same pair competing again this year. Nuno Marques and Emanuel Couto were victorious in 2004 against England’s Mark Petchey and Chris Wilkinson and the Spanish brothers, Emílio and Javier Sanchez.
In 2005, after beating Fernando Meligeni and Dácio Campos from Brazil, the national pair was once again victorious over the Spanish pairing. Last year, Nuno Marques said: “This final was harder than last year. We were close to winning and losing.”
Danny Sapsford and Chris Wilkinson from England, both of whom have played at Wimbledon, will strive to eliminate the competition this year to gain the coveted first place title.
The first day’s proceedings will commence this afternoon at 12.30pm at the Hotel Algarve Praia da Rocha, with welcome cocktails, followed by some beach fun, beginning with a body combat demonstration at 3.15pm. The first beach tennis match begins at 4pm with Spain competing against Brazil, followed by Portugal versus England at 5pm.
Saturday’s events will commence with another body combat demonstration at 3.15pm, followed by the losers of the previous day’s games battling it out for third and fourth positions at 4pm. The winning teams from August 25 will compete for the title of Beach Tennis Supremos from 5pm. A dinner will follow the tournament and then the fun really begins at the players’ party, which will be held at Bar Capicua at Praia da Rocha Marina.
Entrance to watch the competition is free and there are stands all around the sandy court, where you can sit and enjoy the exciting two set matches.
