Ljubljana, Slovenia, August 3, 2018 – Teams from Australia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Ukraine won two qualification matches each on Friday to advance to the women’s main draw at the Ljubljana FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event.
Maryna Samoday and Diana Lunina were the lowest ranked pair to score two qualification wins and progress to Saturday’s main draw. The 14th-seeded Ukrainians started their campaign with a 2-0 (22-20, 21-16) upset of third-seeded Kim Huber and Tatjana Greber of Switzerland. They followed up with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-14) shutout of sixth-seeded Australians Stefanie Weiler and Rebecca Ingram.
Samoday and Lunina during their match against Switzerland
The top seeds lived up to their status and successfully passed through Friday’s programme. Australia’s Nicole Laird and Brittany Kendall, #1 in the qualification line-up, managed two hard-earned victories on the way to the main draw – 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) over Bulgaria’s Asya Dinova and Irena Mishonova and 2-1 (23-21, 17-21, 15-10) over Germany’s Leonie Koetzinger and Anika Krebs in what was the longest lasting game of the day (55 minutes).
Second-seeded Tereza Kotlasova and Daniela Resova, on the other hand, won the fastest win of the day in 28 minutes – 2-0 (21-6, 21-9) over Croatia’s Ivana Ovcina and Dorotea Cosic. In the second round, the Czech duo hammered out a 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) victory over Hungary’s Dominika Hafra and Dorottya Szabo.
"I am really happy that we made it through the qualifications. The first match was easy, but the second one was different. It was more about how we played and that we made many mistakes,” Tereza Kotlasova commented. “The weather is good, so we enjoy playing here.”
“I hope that tomorrow we will deliver a better performance than today and maybe have some luck with the draw to get a chance to proceed even further,” Daniela Resova added.
Another Hungarian pair, however, persevered through a three-setter in the second qualification round to squeeze through to the main draw. Fourth-seeded Eszter Lutter and Szandra Szombathelyi emerged victorious from a tough first-round encounter with USA’s Lindsey Fuller and Kaley Melville 2-0 (22-20, 21-19), before disappointing the home crowd with a 2-1 (21-19, 17-21, 15-10) win over Slovenian wild cards Nika Bevc and Kaja Kersnik.