Top-seeded Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) & Ana Patricia Ramos of Brazil lived up to their status and claimed the gold medals at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event in Paris on Sunday. For the reigning world champions and the number one team in the FIVB World Ranking, it was the sixth overall and second consecutive Elite16 gold within a total collection of 12 Beach Pro Tour podiums, also including two silver and four bronze medals.

• Watch Beach Pro Tour Paris Elite16 main draw replays on VBTV.

For a second consecutive time, after the Hamburg Elite16 in August, Taryn Kloth & Kristen Nuss lost to Duda & Ana Patricia in the women’s final to settle for silver, their second on the Tour. The second-seeded Americans also have four gold and one bronze medal in their showcase.

The Paris bronze went to last year’s Paris Elite16 winners Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon of the Netherlands. The 11^th-seeded Dutch team won Sunday’s bronze medal match at Roland-Garros Stadium to add the seventh piece of hardware to their Beach Pro Tour medal count, which now includes three golds, two silvers and two bronzes.

In Sunday’s gold medal game, Ana Patricia & Duda and Nuss & Kloth engaged in a three-set battle at the end of which the Brazilians celebrated a victory. The South Americans were really convincing during the first set to win it by a wide margin, but the North Americans came back to gain control in the second, level the match and push it to a tie-breaker. The third set started really well for Ana Patricia & Duda, but Nuss & Kloth recovered from a four-point deficit to level it at 9-9. The Brazilians broke away again to reach four match points at 14-10. The Americans did not give up and denied the first three. On the fourth, Nuss saved two powerful hits from Ana Patricia before the latter finally closed the match with a clever pokey for 15-13.

The serving made the big difference in the match, with Ana Patricia firing eight aces and Duda adding another three against only one for the opponents. Kloth, on the other hand, impressed with four kill blocks against none for the Brazilians. Ana Patricia was the overall best scorer of the match with 29 points. Kloth finished with 22.

“I am very happy! It’s always hard to play against that team. They play very, very well. It’s always a battle. I would like to thank Duda and thank everybody for the energy! See you next year,” Ana Patricia said right after the match on the court.

“They really play very well and every time we play against them it is a really hard game,” Duda confirmed. “It’s been amazing to play here. Paris is a special place and to compete at the Olympics next year would be great!”

The bronze medal match earlier in the afternoon also offered a tough battle, which was resolved in two sets, in favour of Stam & Schoon over Italy’s Marta Menegatti & Valentina Gottardi. The lead changed hands a few times in the first set, but after 13-13, the Dutch broke away and cruised on to a 21-17 close. In the second set, the 10^th-seeded Italians managed to build up a four-point lead but once again stumbled after their 13^th point. Stam & Schoon scored six in a row to gain a 15-13 lead. Still, the fight continued and Menegatti & Gottardi were the first to reach set point at 20-19. However, the Dutch reacted with three points in a row to close the game.

Katja Stam was the best scorer of the match with 20 points, including two blocks and an ace. Menegatti led Italy with 14 points.

VW Beach Pro Tour Paris Elite16: all results

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