U.S. teams lose Doha openers; Beltramino and Morga earn a comeback win
Portugal beats the women 2-1 and Italy sweeps the men, with the Netherlands and Brazil next on the Americans’ Group D schedule.
By X3Insights News, News desk
2 min read
The U.S. women opened the FIP World Cup with a 2-1 loss to Portugal, and the men lost all three matches against Italy. Both teams face new Group D opponents on Tuesday as the national-team competition continues in Doha.
The women's opening tie still produced a notable U.S. result: Ornella Beltramino and Marta Morga came back from a set down to win the final match against Portugal. The distinction matters in a competition built from three doubles matches per tie: a pair can win its match even when its country loses the meeting.
A comeback against Portugal
Portugal secured the women's tie in the first two matches on Nov. 2, according to FIP's opening-day report. Patri Ribeiro and Sofia Araujo beat Riobueno and Ruiz 6-0, 6-0; Andrea Anchando and Ana Catarina Nogueira then defeated Dubins and Rodriguez Sanchez 6-4, 6-4.
Beltramino and Morga won the third match 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 against Silva and Santos. FIP confirmed that score in its Nov. 3 account of Beltramino's World Cup debut.
The federation's profile describes a development pathway spanning two countries: Beltramino was born in Miami, trains and competes in Alicante, Spain, and studies online through a Florida institution. Her first World Cup appearance brought a match victory, even though Portugal had already clinched the team result.
Italy takes all three men's matches
The U.S. men faced a more one-sided opening scoreline. FIP's men's report records wins for all three Italian pairs:
- Alvaro Montiel and Simone Cremona beat Humphreys and Osses Konig 6-3, 7-5.
- Aris Patiniotis and Giulio Graziotti defeated Di Francesco and Segura 6-2, 6-2.
- Marco Cassetta and Simone Iacovino beat De Armas and Ruiz Alvarez 6-1, 6-3.
Brazil also beat Mexico 3-0 in the other men's Group D meeting. In the women's group, the Netherlands defeated Paraguay 3-0.
Tuesday's opponents and the remaining groups
The official Nov. 3 order of play lists Netherlands-U.S. women and Brazil-U.S. men for the second round of group ties. The FIP event hub carries live coverage and results; those Tuesday fixtures are separate from the completed opening-day scores above.
