Gstaad, Switzerland, July 13, 2018 - Four women’s teams from the North American continent will lead a field of eight pairs into the quarterfinals of the $600,000 Gstaad Major as two teams each from Canada and the United States won elimination brackets here Friday.
Leading the Canadians into the quarterfinals of the 19th annual FIVB World Tour stop in the Swiss Alps village are top-seeded Melissa Humana-Paredes/Sarah Pavan and second-seeded Heather Bansley/Brandie Wilkerson. Pacing the American effort were ninth-seeded Alix Klineman/April Ross and 26th-seeded qualifiers Kelley Larsen/Emily Stockman
Other teams advancing to the Gstaad Major quarterfinals were third-seeded Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda "Duda" Lisboa of Brazil, fifth-seeded Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic, seventh-seeded Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude of Germany and 30th-seeded qualifiers Miki Ishii/Megumi Murakami of Japan.
Saturday’s quarterfinal schedule has Humana-Paredes/Pavan meeting Klineman/Ross with Larsen/Stockman challenging Agatha/Duda, defending Gstaad Major champions Laboureur/Sude playing Ishii/Murakami and Bansley/Wilkerson facing Hermannova/Slukova.
Humana-Paredes/Pavan advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinal with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) win over 19th-seeded Svetlana Kholomina/Nadezda Makroguzova of Russia in 33 minutes while Bansley/Wilkerson out-lasted Karla Borger/Margareta Kozuch of Germany 2-1 (16-21, 23-21, 15-12) in 52 minutes.
Taking a break are Melissa Humana-Paredes (left) and Sarah Pavan of Canada
While Klineman/Ross were eliminating compatriots Sara Hughes/Summer Ross 2-1 (21-18, 16-21, 15-9) in 48 minutes, Larsen/Stockman upset sixth-seeded Maria Antonelli/Carolina Salgado of Brazil 2-1 (21-23, 26-24, 15-13) in 60 minutes.
At the net are Summer Ross (left) and April Ross
While Agatha/Duda advanced due to a forfeit by 17th-seeded Joy Stubbe/Marleen Van Iersel of the Netherlands, defending Gstaad Major champions Laboureur/Sude eliminated fourth-seeded Taliqua Clancy/Mariafe Artacho of Australia 2-0 (21-16, 26-24) in 40 minutes.
A 2-1 (21-17, 16-21, 15-13) win in 53 minutes over 11th-seeded Victoria Bieneck/ Isabel Schneider of Germany propelled Ishii/Murakami into the quarterfinals while Hermannova/Slukova advanced with a 2-1 (21-17, 16-21, 15-9) win in 46 minutes over 15th-seeded Nina Betschart/Tanja Huberli of Switzerland.
Diving for Mikasa is Megumi Murakami (right) as Japanese partner Miki Ishii follows the action.