Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos are one step closer to defending the title they won at the 2022 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Gstaad Elite16 in this year’s edition of the tournament as the Brazilians have made it to the quarterfinals of the event on Friday.

The reigning world champions secured their third victory in the Swiss Alps and took first place in Pool A, which sent them directly to the quarterfinals of the Gstaad Elite16, which will be played on Saturday.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Gstaad Elite16 live on VBTV

Duda and Ana Patrícia had won their first two pool play matches on Thursday and set up a ‘pool final’ with American qualifiers Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles, who had the same results in their first main draw matches. It took the Brazilians three sets (21-13, 26-28, 15-12), but they secured the victory they needed and advanced directly to the quarterfinals.

In the other match of the pool, Brazil topped the United States as well, with Ágatha Bednarczuk and Rebecca Cavalcanti beating Terese Cannon and Sara Sponcil in the tie-breaker (11-21, 21-19, 15-11) and finishing third, advancing to the Round of 12 alongside Flint and Scoles.

Beach Pro Tour Gstaad Elite16 – Match Schedule and Results

Pool B had a tie at the top between Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes/Brandie Wilkerson and Australia’s Taliqua Clancy/Mariafe Artacho, which both ended pool play with two wins and one loss.

The Canadians, who topped Swiss Joana Mäder and Anouk Vergé-Dépré 2-0 (26-24, 21-19) on Friday, prevailed over the Australians, who fell to Latvians Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova also in two sets (21-19, 21-11), in the tie-breakers and took the direct spot in the quarterfinals – Tina and Anastasija secured the last spot in the pool in the Round of 12.

In Pool C, Germans Cinja Tillmann and Svenja Müller finished in first place. The two, who started their campaign in Wednesday’s qualifier, claimed their fifth-straight victory in Gstaad, coming from behind to overcome Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes 2-1 (18-21, 21-18, 15-11). The Americans will compete in the Round of 12 alongside Dutch Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam, who finished in third place after their 2-1 (21-19, 23-25, 15-11) victory over Swiss Zoé Vergé-Dépré and Esmée Böbner.

Pool D winners were Americans Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss – the two finished pool play undefeated after their 2-1 (19-21, 21-13, 16-14) victory over third-placed Brazilians Bárbara Seixas and Carol Salgado on Friday. Italians Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi prevailed over Swiss Tanja Hüberli and Nina Brunner in two sets (21-17, 21-18) and advanced in second place, eliminating the last Swiss team from the tournament.

Saturday’s schedule in Gstaad will begin with the Round of 12, which will feature the following duels – Tina/Anastasija vs. Menegatti/Gottardi, Schoon/Stam vs. Clancy/Mariafe, Flint/Scoles vs. Bárbara/Carol and Cheng/Hughes vs. Ágatha/Rebecca.

The quarterfinals will also be played on Saturday, with the semifinals and medal matches scheduled for Sunday in Gstaad.

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