Vaduz, Liechtenstein, August 10, 2018 – As men’s main draw action at the Vaduz one-star stop on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour got underway on Friday, the first four quarterfinalists became known. Teams from Poland, Russia, Ukraine and Switzerland topped the final standings in the four pools and will skip the first elimination round on Saturday.
Mateusz Paszkowski and Mateusz Lysikowski, seeded eighth, upset the top seeds in the main draw and became the first team to secure their spot in the quarterfinals. In the first place match in Pool A, the Poles claimed a 2-0 (21-14, 21-19) win over Switzerland’s Quentin Metral and Simon Hagenbuch. Earlier, Paszkowski and Lysikowski opened the day’s competition programme on court 2 with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) shutout of Czech Republic’s Marcel Myslivecek and Martin Pihera.
Last week’s winners at Ljubljana Taras Myskiv and Valeriy Samoday are continuing their great run on the Tour. After passing successfully through Thursday’s qualifications, the 10th-seeded Russian pair topped the final standings on Pool B with two straight-set victories over Latvian opponents – 2-0 (21-13, 21-12) against Kristaps Smits and Mihails Samoilovs and 2-0 (21-15, 28-26) against second-seeded Haralds Regza and Toms Smedins.
One-hand block by Samoday against Smits
Sergiy Popov and Vladyslav Iemelianchyk had a much tougher time in Pool C and had to win two tie-breakers before advancing to the quarterfinals. The sixth-seeded Ukrainians started off with a 2-1 (18-21, 21-13, 15-11) come-from-behind victory over Austria’s Thomas Kunert and Peter Eglseer and followed up with a 2-1 (21-16, 19-21, 15-10) upset of third-seeded Marcio Guadie Ley and Arthur Diego Mariano Lanci of Brazil.
Another Ukrainian duo, Oleksii Denin and Denys Denysenko, were close to a similar feat in Pool D, but could not hold on to the one-set lead they had in the first place game. Fifth-seeded Florian Breer and Yves Haussener of Switzerland mastered a dramatic 2-1 (16-21, 21-15, 20-18) turnaround and became the highest ranked team to win their pool. Earlier, the Swiss duo managed a 2-0 (21-10, 21-14) win over Turkey’s Ali Berke Sagir and Yusuf Ozdemir.
Florian Breer serving
Men’s main draw action resumes on Saturday with the first elimination round, which will determine the remaining four quarterfinalists.