Haiyang, China, July 19, 2018 – Brazil’s Alvaro Morais Filho and Luciano Ferreira de Paula emerged as the winners of Pool E with two victories in the main draw of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Haiyang Open on Thursday.
The Brazilians edged both their counterparts in straight sets to reach the next round of play. They defeated Thailand’s Nuttanon Inkiew/Sedtawat Padsawut 2-0 (21-18, 21-12) and Germany’s Alexander Walkenhorst/Sven Winter 2-0 (21-19, 21-18).
“We had great teamwork in this match,” Alvaro Filho said. “There were tough moments when we trailed our opponents, but we had patience in recovering the points and that led us to win the match.
“My partner today was awesome on serve, side-out and block. We will take it one step at a time because there are very good teams in this tournament.”
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USA’s William Kolinske/Miles Evans also won their two matches without dropping a set for Pool F leadership. They beat China’s Li Zhuoxin/Zhou Chawei 2-0 (21-13, 21-11) and Latvia’s Aleksandrs Solovejs/Rihard Finsters 2-0 (21-18, 21-13).
Australia’s Christopher McHugh/Zachery Schubert outplayed Sweden’s Martin Appelgren/Simon Boman 2-0 (21-11, 21-11), before they outlasted their compatriots Cole Durant/Damien Schumann in a three-setter 2-1 (27-25, 13-21, 15-13) in Pool G.
Europeans dominated the five other pools. Slovenia’s Nejc Zemljak/Jan Pokersnik led Pool A with victories against Belarus’ Aliaksandr Dziadkou/Aliaksandr Kavalenka and China’s Gao Peng/Li Yang, while Finland’s Jyrki Nurminen/Santeri Siren headed Pool B with wins over North American sides Chase Budinger/Sean Rosenthal of USA and Canada’s Grant O’Gorman/Ben Saxton. In Pool D, Estonia’s Kusti Nolvak/Mart Tiisar beat Thailand’s Surin Jongklang/Adisorn Khaolumtarn and USA’s Stafford Slick/Casey Patterson.
Turkey’s Hasan Huseyin Mermer/Safa Urlu dropped a set in each of their encounters with Germany’s Jorg Wutzl/Simon Fruhbauer and USA’s Adam Roberts/Troy Field. Likewise, Robin Seidl/Philipp Waller made it through to the next round with double tiebreaker wins against Switzerland’s Gabriel Kissling/Michiel Zandbergen and their fellow Austrians Alexander Huber/Christoph Dressler.