Moscow, Russia, August 21, 2013 – Andrea Tomatis and Alex Ranghieri finished a spectacular 4th at the Berlin Grand Slam just a few days ago, coming all the way from the reserve list. And the Italians are planning to do that all over again in Russia this week, at the sixth edition of the Moscow Grand Slam.
The first hurdle has been taken, on Wednesday they were one of eight qualification teams advancing to main draw. Just like in Berlin they had been moved up from the reserve list.
The 35-year old Tomatis and 26-year old Ranghieri had a bye in the first qualification round and beat Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs Solovejs from Latvia 2-1 (21-17 18-21 15-10) in the final round.
Not hit Berlin form yet
The Italians were not too happy with their performance on Wednesday though and Tomatis said they have not hit their Berlin form yet.
“It’s going to be hard games here. I think we have to play much better than today to win at least a couple of matches in main draw tomorrow. We have to be better.”
Just ten days ago Tomatis and Ranghieri made it to the final four in Berlin. They lost the semifinal and the bronze medal match, but 4th place was unexpected and their best result by far.
“Berlin really came as a surprise”, Tomatis said. “Because we were not supposed to play. We were on the reserve list till Monday morning in Berlin.”
“Here we were on reserve too, but we knew a couple of days in advance we would be in qualification. But in Berlin it was really funny because we knew only three hours before leaving from Rome.”
Renewed partnership
Tomatis and Ranghieri just recently rejoined after playing together in 2010. “Alex had a shoulder injury in 2011”, Tomatis explained.
“After that he played with Matteo Cecchini and I tried to play with another guy, but it did not work out. And now we are back together and I think we can be a good team. But we have to work a lot because we never practice together. He lives near Venice and I in Rome.”
Their renewed partnership turned out to be very successful so far, finishing 5th in Long Beach and 4th in Berlin. These good results gave them confidence.
“We found out that we can be a good team”, Tomatis said. “And we found out that we improved a lot since 2010. Because in 2010 we never qualified for main draw.”
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