Maria Antonelli / Carolina Salgado Brazil (4) def. Sara Hughes / Summer Ross United States (10) 24-22, 21-18 (0:41)
Carol Salgado, Brazil – “We had some trouble siding out in the start of the game but we figured things out and found a good rhythm. They are a great team and are in very good form after they won last week in Moscow. We really want to do our best here and as we have just one match every day in pool play we’re giving everything we have. Every game here is a final. We need to take every game as the most important one if we want to keep progressing. We just want to have fun and play together.”
Maria Antonelli, Brazil - “We’ve been through some really unique situations over the last weeks and that helped us to win this game. We were really well synchronized despite of our slow start. Carol helped me a lot when I was down and I helped her when she was struggling a little bit in the second set. That’s the nicest thing about our team, we’re always there for each other.”
Summer Ross, United States – “We gave that game away, completely. There were so many unforced errors. There’s some tactical things that I already know what to change. Don’t hit it in the pocket and things like that. We can fix this before the next match and I’m so excited to get going. We’re just going to recover, take care of our bodies, eat, hydrate and get back out her tomorrow. It’s so awesome.”
Sara Hughes, United States – “When you have a lead like that we have to make sure we stay focused and make sure we close out the match and that’s just something we have to do. I think our main goal regardless of winning and losing is we’re making progress. As a team because we’re still new, it’s our first season out, but something like coming off a win like that (in Moscow) we have to build momentum. It proves we’re out competing and we deserve to be here. It’s amazing, just being on that court, it’s an electric feeling. So many people are here and we’re playing at the highest level we can. It’s really fun.”