The action continues in the Beach Tennis World Championships ©Facebook

Men's number one seeds Nikita Burmakin and Tommaso Giovannini are through to the quarter-finals of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Beach Tennis World Championships, although they were given tough test by a pair of qualifiers.

Russian Burmakin and Italian Giovannini beat Teo Casadei and Francesco Pesaresi, both from Italy, 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 10 minutes.

It sends Burmakin, the number one ITF-ranked player, and Giovannini into the last eight of the competition in Terracina, Italy.

Elsewhere, Spain's Antonio Miguel Ramos Viera remains in contention for a second successive title after he and French partner Nicolas Gianotti eased into the quarter-finals.

Viera, champion last year alongside Mikael Alessi, and Gianotti flexed their muscles as sixth seeds to beat Italian qualifiers Simone Perroni and Gianmarco Scarica 6-1, 6-1.

They will play another Italian pair, eighth seeds Doriano Beccaccioli and Davide Benussi, in the last eight after they saw off French duo Mathieu Guegano and Theo Irigaray 6-2, 6-3 in little more than an hour.

Second seeds Alessandro Calbucci and Michele Cappelletti are also into the quarter-finals after winning an all-Italian encounter with Matteo Marighella and Alex Mingozzi, 7-6, 6-1.

The tournament is taking place in the scenic location of Terracina, Italy ©Facebook
The tournament is taking place in the scenic location of Terracina, Italy ©Facebook

Alessio Chiodioni and Mattia Spoto, who knocked out Alessi in round one, are also into the quarter-finals after an epic clash with fellow unseeded duo Luca Brasini and Filippo Buccioli.

In another all-Italian match, Chiodioni and Spoto won 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 in two hours and 21 minutes, the longest match of the tournament so far.

In the women's draw, top seeds Sofia Cimatti and Giulia Gasparri made light work of fellow Italians Elisa Cappelli and Natascia Sciolti.

Gasparri, who won last year with Federica Bacchetta, and Cimatti won 6-2, 6-0 in just 34 minutes.

Also looking strong are the second seeds, another Italian pairing of Flaminia Daina and Nicole Nobile, who beat Spanish pair Eva Fernandez Palos and Sabrina Lopez 6-3, 6-0.

Six of the seeded pairs are into the last eight of the women's tournament.

Those missing out are Russian sixth seeds Daria Churakova and Irina Glimakova, who lost in round one, and eighth-ranked Italian twin sisters Michela and Noemi Romani, who were thrashed by compatriots Martina Corbara and Ninny Valentini, 6-2, 6-2 in 51 minutes.

Competition continues on Friday (June 14).