This Friday, the men’s and women’s semifinalists of the United States’ BT 400 tournament, one of the world’s major events in which players from 10 countries participate, the International Tennis Federation’s world ranking of 470 points and the total prize money pool, were decided. $35,000.
For the men, the main match of the day was the final match played on center court, with the defending champion pair extending their unbeaten run on the Alagoas sands to 13 matches. André Baran and Michele Cappelletti, champions of last year’s Macena Open and Pure Beach (this April), were down but came back 5/7 7/5 10/7 after beating former world number one Russian Nikita Burmakin. Italy’s Gabriele Gini drew the crowd in a match that lasted about two hours on the center court at Praia da Pajuçara in Maceió. It took a long time to get into the game and I was very nervous because I started with a lot of mistakes. I was very nervous in the second set, and Andre also tried to reduce his nerves. In the super tiebreak, we started from behind and the important thing was to stay in the game and fight, but we managed to pull out a win after some negative moments, said Cappelletti, a six-time world champion and owner of a circuit record 86 wins.
Andre Varane, who won his first world title with the Italian last September and became the new number one, added: “It was a very tough game. The cafe and I had a hard time. My concentration wavered a lot. Especially me. I felt a lot of frustration and was a bit reluctant to change what I needed to do. Nikita, who gave almost all the points chasing the ball, had a great game and Gini in particular should be congratulated. They canceled us. The good part is that today it fluctuated more than usual and I will try to have a good day tomorrow.”
In the semi-finals, the pair will face Brazil’s Allan Oliveira, the 2022 tournament champion, and Leonardo Branco, who beat Brazil’s Davi Ballerini and Mateus Buemo 3/6 7/6 (7/5) 10/6. The other semi-final will feature world number two Frenchman Nicolas Gianotti and Italian Mattia Spoto taking on Renzo Amancio and João Wiesinger. Gianotti and Spoto are chasing the leaders of the standings.
In the women’s category, four main groups will advance to the semifinals. São Paulo’s Sophia Chow, a two-time winner of the Massena Open in 2021 and 2022, and 19-year-old Vitória Marchezini from Parana will face Italy.
Flaminia Daina and Nicole Nobile. The other semi-final will feature two-time world champions Giulia Gasparri and Ninny Valentini in 2021 and 2022 against ranking leaders Rafaella Miiller and Venezuelan Patrícia Diaz. Rafa and Diaz suffered the most in the quarter-finals this Friday, when they beat Spain’s Ariadna Grael and Italy’s Veronica Casadei 6/3 2/6 10/4. Chow and Marchezini passed Julia Nogueira and Isadora Simões 6/3 6/0.
The BT 400 tournament features almost every top 10 men and women competing. This event invites players from the following countries:
10 countries (Brazil, Italy, France, Spain, Russia, Venezuela, Estonia, Portugal, Aruba, Lithuania).
national broadcast
The semifinals begin this Saturday at 10am. Two of them will air on Disney+, and the two finals will begin at 7pm on ESPN 4. First is the women’s division, then the men’s division. The entire event will be shown on the PlayBT YouTube channel. The Macena Open is sponsored by Maceió City Hall. The official ball will be a hero.
The event is supported by Angioneuro, Coutinho Incorporações, Ladeirão do Óleo, Banco BRB, Coca-Cola, Powerade and Cerveja Sol. The event is sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation, the Brazilian Tennis Federation and the Alagoas Tennis Federation. This event is presented by Paxá Sports.
