Haiyang, China, July 20, 2018 – France’s Lezana Placette/Alexia Richard cleared two match hurdles to stay in contention in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Haiyang Open on Friday.
Placette and Richard finished third in Pool H with their 2-0 (21-16, 21-14) win over Australia’s Nicole Laird/Brittany Kendall, before guaranteeing their spot in the second round with another straight-set 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) win over Germany’s Lisa Arnholdt/Leonie Welsch.
“We gave a lot of energy in the two matches because if we lose one match then we are out of the tournament,” Richard said. “This is our second big World Tour event and it was good to reach where we are now.”
“The match was difficult to manage and we had to give it our all and see how we could win the match,” Placette added. “We are glad that we reached the next round. We achieved our goal in this tournament and it would be great if we could win more matches.”
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Two Chinese duos made it to the second round as Cao Shuting/Hang Ting and Wang Xinxin/Zeng Jinjin posted straight-set victories over Germany’s Karoline Frohlich/Viktoria Seeber 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) and Lithuania’s Urte Andriukaityte/Irina Zobnina 2-0 (21-13, 22-20), respectively.
Two more Asian pairs prevailed in their encounters with their respective rivals. Thailand’s Rumpaipruet Numwong/Khanittha Hongpak beat USA’s Bree Scarbrough/Aurora Davis 2-0 (21-18, 23-21), while Japan’s Yui Nagata/Minori Kumada outlasted Austria’s Eva Freiberger/Valerie Teufl 2-1 (27-29, 21-16, 15-8).
Norway’s Victoria Faye Kjolberg/Ane Guro Tveit Hjortland, Austria’s Anja Dorfler/Stephanie Wiesmeyr and Canada’s Megan and Nicole McNamara earned their spots in the next round.