Anapa, Russia, July 6, 2018 – Four Russian tandems emerged as winners of their respective pools in the women’s competition of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Anapa Open at the VolleyGrad Beach Sports Centre on Friday.
Nadezda Makroguzova/Svetlana Kholomina, Ksenia Dabizha/Yulia Abalakina, Ekaterina Birlova/Evgenia Ukolova and Daria Mastikova/Anastasia Petrunina progressed straight to the quarterfinals.
Makroguzova/Kholomina secured first place in Pool A with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-14) win over Switzerland’s Esmee Bobner/Zoe Verge-Depre. In that same group, Czech Republic’s Martina Maixnerova/Marie-Sara Stochlova left no chance to Belgium’s Janne Devos/Fleur Baens 2-0 (21-15, 21-7) to stay in the competition.
“We hope to show our best here,” Kholomina said. “Tomorrow we will most probably play against another Russian team but for us this is not so important. We will try to achieve our goals in this tournament.”
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In Pool B, Dabizha/Abalakina beat the Czech Republic’s Karolina Rehackova/Michaela Knoblochova 2-0 (21-14, 21-10) to claim the top spot in the group.
“I am happy that we could win two matches in a row,” Abalakina said. “It was not easy for us because the weather was really challenging. We are anxiously waiting for the next matches to show what we are capable of.”
The 2015 European Championship silver medallists Birlova/Ukolova finished first in Pool C with their compatriots Ekaterina Syrtseva/Anastasia Barsuk settling for second place. Anastasiia Frolova/Aleksandra Ganenko of Russia stayed in contention after beating Bakhtygul Samalikova/Anastassiya Ukolova 2-0 (21-11, 21-9).
Mastikova/Petrunina and Cuba’s Mailen Deliz/Leila Martinez finished first and second, respectively, in Pool D after the former edged the latter in the second round 2-0 (10-21, 21-19, 19-17).