Sweden’s David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig and Brazil’s Andre Stein & George Wanderley booked the two remaining vacancies in the men’s semifinals at the 2023 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Finals in Doha and will challenge pool winners Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan of Qatar and Anders Mol & Christian Sorum of Norway, respectively, in the battles for the spots in the gold medal match on Saturday.

· Watch the Beach Pro Tour Doha Finals live on VBTV.

On Friday, the Swedish jump-setters completed their Pool B campaign with a shutout of George & Andre, as Hellvig raised six kill blocks towards a match-high 22 points. Thus, the Swedes finished runners-up to Mol & Sorum in the pool on a 3-1 win-loss record, while George & Andre advanced to the playoffs as the third-placed team on 2-2.

In Pool A, Italy’s Paolo Nicolai & Samuele Cottafava mastered a sweep of their last game against USA’s Miles Partain & Andrew Benesh, while Czechia’s Ondrej Perusic & David Schweiner emerged victorious over Poland’s Bartosz Losiak & Michal Bryl. The reigning world champions won the first set and then, at 5-2 in the second, the Poles withdrew on a medical forfeit. In the final pool standings, three teams finished on 2-2 each, and based on point ratios, the Italians claimed the runners-up spot below undefeated Cherif & Ahmed, the Czechs progressed as the third-placed team, while fourth-placed Losiak & Bryl did not qualify for the playoffs.

Perusic & Schweiner themselves forfeited their quarterfinal against Ahman & Helllvig and the Swedes advanced to Saturday’s semifinal against home favourites Cherif & Ahmed, starting at 15:00 local time (12:00 UTC). In the other quarterfinal, George & Andre produced a shutout of Cottafava & Nicolai. Both sets were well contested. In the second the South Americans even recovered from a five-point deficit to claim the semifinal spot against Mol & Sorum in the second semifinal at 16:00 (13:00) on Saturday. Andre led the winning team in the quarterfinal with 20 points, including six kill blocks and two aces.

Meanwhile, the women’s quarterfinals also took place on Friday evening. In both, the third-placed teams from the pools defeated the second-placed teams from the other pools. First, Germany’s Cinja Tillmann & Svenja Muller came back from a set down against Brazil’s Taina Bigi & Victoria Lopes to claim a win. Muller impressed with as many as six aces and three kill blocks towards the match high of 24 points. Tillmann contributed another 22 to the victory.  The Germans will have the opportunity to get back at Brazil’s Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) & Ana Patricia Ramos, who shut them out in a Pool A match on Wednesday as the two teams meet in the first women’s semifinal on Saturday at 13:00 (10:00).

Then USA’s Taryn Kloth & Kristen Nuss cruised to a sweep of their quarterfinal match against Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson, with Kloth leading the way with 18 points, including six blocks and an ace. The Americans will also get a shot at taking revenge from Australia’s Taliqua Clancy & Mariafe Artacho Del Solar, who beat them in a Pool B game on Thursday. The two teams will lock horns in the second semifinal, starting at 14:00 (11:00).

VW Beach Pro Tour Doha Finals: schedule and results

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