Beach Tennis Bermuda Shines At First Major Event

Breathtakingly beautiful beaches were the backdrop for some intense beach tennis competition at Horseshoe Bay this weekend as the Italian duo of Matteo Marighella and Alex Mingozzi won the Men’s Pro division at Bermuda's first international beach tennis tournament. The World Champions won the battle on the beach, which saw Horseshoe transformed into a kind-of Flushing Meadows on the Atlantic.

Local Bermuda talent including Andy Bray, Phil van Doninck, Gavin Manders and Mark Cordeiro got their 15 minutes of fame in the purpose-built seaside centre court, masterfully constructed by Beach Tennis Bermuda, the latest BTUSA licensee group to join the movement.

But it was the Italian maestros that shone in the sun, beating the American duo Chris Henderson and Phil Whitesell 8-6, essentially recreating the showdown that occurred just three weeks ago at the 2008 National Beach Tennis Championship in New York, where they beat the Americans 8-4 to retain their US title.

In the Women’s Pro division, Lucy Street and Kristen Flagler (Hermosa Beach, CA) defeated Silvia Zanuttini and Valentina Flagler (Italy) 8-3.

Other prominent pro beach tennis players who competed include Marty Salokas and Donny Young (Hermosa Beach, CA), Jochem Ros (Aruba), Will Bull (Myrtle Beach, SC), and Gianluca Chirico and Massimo Mattea (Italy).

Beach Tennis USA Founder and Commissioner, Marc Altheim, and partner Ronald Gleicher, a Brazlian who works as a waiter at the Fairmont Southampton, won the amateur event on Sunday.

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