South Americans on top in the Hamburg sun

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Big-serving Evandro Gonçalves was in brilliant form again. Photocredit: Mike Ranz

Afternoon all! Good news! The sun is shining, the temperatures are rising and in the Pool Play the Brazilian boys have brought the South American heat with them on and off the court!

The Copacabana is the place where all the players crave to be this summer and there was plenty to get excited about as four of the five Brazilian men’s teams did the business as the sun shone – you could almost imagine being in South America. Almost.

Of all the matches on show the one which grabbed most of the happy crowd’s attention was number one seeds Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt’s Pool A clash with Italians Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula.

The Italians deservedly took the first set as the Brazils started sluggish – Carambula’s serving skills were impeccable – four aces in a row led to them winning the first set.

And then: the comeback!

In a crazy second set Alison/Bruno surged into a lead. Back came the Italians, eating away at the Brazilians’ lead to bring it back to 22-24. But the form that was missing in the first set saw Alison/Bruno hold their nerve to set-up a tantalizing finale.

Did someone say comeback? Oh yeah… Carambula and Ranghieri led 7-3 and then 9-6. However, who would doubt this Brazilian team? Back they came…again…the crowd lapping it up, one big attack from Alison later and it was all over. Victory for the boys in yellow.

Brazilian success also came in the shape of Pedro Solberg/Evandro, Álvaro Filho/Vitor Felipe and Guto/Saymon.

If the Europeans thought they were on to a good thing this week then perhaps they should think again!