Playing just their second tournament as partners on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, Dutch Raisa Schoon and Mila Konink won a pair of tie-breakers on Thursday to go undefeated in the first day of the main draw of the Alanya Challenge, in Türkiye.

Besides the Dutch, seven other teams also prevailed on both their pool matches at the Beach Sports Center facility, securing a spot in the Round of 16 of the tournament. The Alanya Challenge continues on Friday, with the Round of 24 and the Round of 16. The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, with the medal matches taking place on Sunday.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Alanya Challenge live on VBTV

Temporarily joining forces while Schoon’s regular partner and two-time Olympian Katja Stam recovers from a back injury, the Dutch overcame the qualifier of the Ostrava Elite two weeks ago, but dropped both their pool matches, finishing 19^th.

In Alanya, the 23-year-old Schoon and the 19-year-old Konink are guaranteed to appear in the elimination rounds after they won two matches, both in three sets, on Thursday, to finish first in Pool E.

In the first of them, the Dutch topped Lithuanian Olympians Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte 2-1 (21-17, 16-21, 15-8). A few hours later, the two produced a comeback to overcome Australian Olympic medalist Taliqua Clancy and new partner Jana Milutinovic 2-1 (17-21, 21-15, 15-13) to continue undefeated.

With the results, the Dutch advanced directly to the Round of 16, while the Australians and Spanish Olympians Daniela Álvarez and Tania Moreno, who defeated Paulikiene and Raupelyte 2-0 (21-19, 21-12), made it to the Round of 24.

Swiss sisters keep their record clean

Fresh from taking bronze at the Ostrava Elite two weeks ago, Swiss sisters Anouk and Zoé Vergé-Dépré continued in good form on the first day of the main draw in Alanya. The Olympians emerged as the top team in Pool A after they defeated two Dutch teams – they topped Lisa Luini and Desy Poiesz 2-0 (21-11, 21-18) and Noa Sonneville and Brecht Piersma also in two sets (21-16, 21-18).

Italians Valentina Gottardi and Reka Orsi Toth prevailed in Pool B after they downed Japanese Asami Shiba and Reika Murakami in straight sets (21-18, 21-15) and Americans Savvy Simo and Abby Van Winkle also 2-0 (21-11, 21-13).

Pool G also had Italian winners after Claudia Scampoli and Giada Bianchi defeated Polish Malgorzata Ciezkowska and Urszula Lunio in straight sets (21-19, 21-16) and Americans Kimberly Hildreth and Teegan Van Gunst in the tie-breaker (21-19, 16-21, 15-10).

French qualifiers Aline Chamereau and Clémence Vieira continued to win for a second-straight day in Alanya and were the top team in Pool C. The Paris Olympians started their main draw campaign with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) win over Ukrainians Valentyna Davidova and Anhelina Khmil and repeated the two-set (21-11, 21-12) victory against New Zealand’s Shaunna Polley and Olivia MacDonald.

In Pool D, Americans Deahna Kraft and Xolani Hodel came out on top after they prevailed over Germans Linda Bock and Louisa Lippmann in the tie-breaker (21-18, 15-21, 15-8) and secured a two-set (21-18, 21-19) win over the Czech Pavelková twins Katerina and Anna.

Brazilians Vitória Rodrigues and Hegeile ‘Hege’ Almeida ranked first in Pool E. The South Americans started the day with a sweep (21-17, 21-11) over Australians Jasmine Fleming and Stefanie Fejes and followed up on it with a three-set (13-21, 21-11, 15-11) victory over Americans Hailey Harward and Molly Phillips.

Ukrainian qualifiers Yeva Serdiuk and Daria Romaniuk were the last team to claim a direct spot in the Round of 16 in Alanya. They did that by winning Pool H with a two-set (21-11, 21-14) victory over the home team of Su Simdim and Merve Nezir and another sweep (21-17, 22-20), this one against Australians Elizabeth Alchin and Georgia Johnson.

Beach Pro Tour Alanya Challenge – Match Schedule & Results

The Round of 24 matches will have Polley/MacDonald vs. Bock/Lippmann, Harwad/Phillips vs. Álvarez/Moreno, Alchin/Johnson vs. Shiba/Reika, Savvy/Van Winkle vs. Canada's Heather Bansley/Sophie Bukovec, Sonneville/Piersma vs. Ciezkowska/Lunio, Clancy/Milutinovic vs. Luini/Poiesz, Hildreth/Van Gunst vs. Czechia's Marketa Svozilova/Marie-Sára Štochlová and Pavelková/Pavelková vs. Davidova/Khmil.

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