Iacovino and Graziotti target the top: aiming for the title in Nola after fourth place at the World Cup with Italy

NOLA – Last week, they competed at the FIP World Cup in Doha, where they finished fourth in the men’s competition representing Italy. Giulio Graziottiand Simone Iacovino are now ready to return to the CUPRA FIP Tour, targeting the title at the FIP Bronze Levante, in Nola. Graziotti has already won nine titles on the circuit during his career, the most recent coming in early September at the FIP Bronze Sassuolo alongside Iacovino. The Italian pair are the third seeds. Leading the draw are Spain’s Mario Ortega and Sweden’s Adam Axelsson, whose national team finished fifth in Doha. Also among the leading contenders are Marcel Font-Ferran Insa (2) and Miguel Melero-Sergio Arias Aznar (4). Among the Italian players to watch are Matteo Sargolini, partnering Noe Navarro, and the wild-card entries Simone Cremona (also selected for the World Cup) and Simone Vaccari.

The top seeds in the women’s draw are Raquel Piltcher and Christina Styliani Ntanou. They are among the favourites for the title in Nola, but will face strong competition, particularly from the Spanish pair Ana Varo and Ainize Santamaria, who won the FIP Bronze in Karachi, Pakistan, in early October. Together, Varo and Santamaria reached the final of the circuit’s first tournament in Uzbekistan, the FIP Bronze Tashkent, at the end of October. Also worth watching are the Dutch players Janine Hemmes and Marcella Koek, who will partner Aimee Gibson and Ana Sanchez, respectively. The tournament’s main draw will begin on Friday 13 November and conclude on Sunday 15 November, when the semi-finals and finals will be played.