The first day of the women’s main draw at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event in Uberlandia featured an encounter between two Brazilian teams that made it to the podium in Cape Town just four days ago.

Reigning world champions Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patricia Ramos, who were third in Cape Town, overcame the South Africa tournament winners Talita Antunes and Thamela Coradello in a thrilling three-setter to move forward to the quarterfinals at Praia Clube.

· Watch all matches at the Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event in Uberlandia live on Volleyball TV.

Duda, 24, and Ana Patricia, 25, were strongly challenged by Talita and Thamela and even had to avoid a match point in set two, but came from behind to top their compatriots in the tie-breaker (18-21, 22-20, 19-17) in the most exciting match of the day, and secure their second Pool A win.

“It was a special day and I’m glad we were able to end it with such an important win in a very tough match,” Ana Patricia told Volleyball World. “These two positive results are really important as we chase our goals here in Uberlandia. We’ll now try to rest and recover for the second day. Playing here at Praia is incredible and I’m very happy with the atmosphere we have here.”

The world champions, who had earlier triumphed over veterans Maria Elisa Antonelli and Fernanda Berti in two sets (21-15, 21-12), will face another Brazilian duo, Ana Luiza Mohr and Carol Horta on Friday at 17:00 local time (20:00 GMT), but have already secured their spot in the quarterfinals of the tournament that’s being held at Praia Clube.

“We’re still a little bit tired from the trip from Cape Town, but we’re trying to avoid keep thinking about it,” Duda added. “We know this tournament will demand a lot from us mentally, but we’re really happy to be here and we’re sure that will show on the court.”

Uberlandia Elite16 - Match Schedule and Results

Besides the world champions, Taiana Lima and Hegeile ‘Hege’ Santos were the only other team to claim a quarterfinal spot. The Brazilians had a strong day in Uberlandia, winning their first match 2-0 (21-11, 21-10) against Japan’s Asami Shiba and Takemi ‘Take’ Nishibori and following it up with another two-set (21-17, 21-18) victory, this one against Americans Terese Cannon and Sarah Sponcil, who took silver last week in Cape Town.

Taiana and Hege will complete their pool play schedule on Friday, at 15:00 local time (18:00 GMT), against fellow Brazilians Taina Bigi and Victoria Lopes and will try to finish first in Pool D.

The remaining six Uberlandia Elite16 quarterfinal spots will be allocated on Friday, when pool play will be completed with another ten women’s matches set to take place.

Quick links:
Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Uberlandia Elite16
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