The main draw of the women’s tournament of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Baden Challenge started on Wednesday, and two duels involving teams from Australia and Ukraine in Pool C were the highlight of the day in the Austrian city.

With their first-round victories, Australia's Jasmine Fleming/Stefanie Fejes and Taliqua Clancy/Jana Milutinovic started ahead in the pool and are among the 16 teams already guaranteed in the elimination rounds. The two will now face off on Thursday, when the main draw continues at the Thermalstrandbad Baden, with the winners advancing directly to the Round of 16 of the event.

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Playing together for just the fifth time on the Beach Pro Tour, the 22-year-old Fleming and the 20-year-old Fejes caused the biggest upset of the day in Baden, taking down the recently-crowned European champions Maryna Hladun and Tetiana Lazarenko in three sets (16-21, 21-17, 15-13) just one day after surviving the Baden Challenge qualifier.

Their compatriots Clancy, a three-time Olympian and a Tokyo 2020 silver medalist, and Milutinovic had a lighter day, sweeping (21-17, 21-12) Yeva Serdiuk and Daria Romaniuk to produce the second victory of an Australian team over a Ukrainian duo in the pool.

Pool A also had an Australian duo in it, but Elizabeth Alchin and Georgia Johnson didn’t start as well as their compatriots, going down to Americans Kimberly Hildreth and Teegan Van Gunst in straight sets (21-18, 21-17). The other match of the pool had the home team of Dorina and Ronja Klinger taking Finland’s Anniina Parkkinen and Valma Vilhelmiina Prihti down also in two sets (21-17, 21-16).

The first teams qualified for the elimination rounds out of Pool B are French Olympians Lézana Placette and Alexia Richard, who swept (21-17, 21-19) Americans Jaden Whitmarsh and Devon Newberry, and Polish Natalia Okla and Julia Kielak, who earned an injury victory over Swiss Tanja Hüberli and Leona Kernen.

Pool D had Sandra Ittlinger/Anna-Lena Grüne and Deahna Kraft/Molly Phillips as the first qualified teams – the Germans defeated the home team of Lia Berger and Lilli Hohenauer in the tie-breaker (21-16, 15-21, 15-11), while the Americans also needed all three sets (15-21, 21-17, 15-12) to come out on top of Germans Lea Sophie Kunst and Janne Uhl.

Pool E, on the other hand, had a pair of sweeps, with Dutch Emi van Driel and Wies Bekhuis beating Spanish Ana Vergara and Sofía González 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) and Ukrainians Valentyna Davidova and Anhelina Khmil prevailing over Lithuanians Daniele Kvedaraite and Jekaterina Kovalskaja also in two sets (23-21, 21-17).

Another Dutch team had a winning debut in Pool F, as Mila Konink and Raisa Schoon dominated Swiss Annique Niederhauser and Menia Bentele to produce a two-set (21-19, 21-18) victory. The other match of the pool was more competitive and had Finland’s Niina Ahtiainen and Taru Lahti taking down Lithuanian Olympians Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte in the tie-breaker (21-18, 18-21, 17-15).

Germans Linda Bock and Louisa Lippmann, who downed the Ukrainians Makhno twins Inna and Iryna in straight sets (21-11, 21-16), and Americans Savvy Simo and Abby Van Winkle, who topped Japanese Asami Shiba and Reika Murakami also in two sets (21-16, 21-15), emerged as the top teams in Pool G.

In Pool H, the first qualified teams are Spanish Olympians Daniela Álvarez and Tania Moreno, who needed all three sets (22-20, 19-21, 15-5) to overcome the Czech Pavelková twins Anna and Katerina, and Americans Madelyne Anderson and Brook Bauer, who triumphed against Polish Malgorzata Ciezkowska and Urszula Lunio in straight sets (21-15, 21-13).

Beach Pro Tour Baden Challenge – Match Schedule and Results

The women will complete pool play in Baden on Thursday, when the Round of 24 matches will also be played. The Round of 16 and the quarterfinals are scheduled for Friday, one day before the semifinals and medal matches will take place in Austria.

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