Starting their tenth month as partners, French Rémi Bassereau and Calvin Aye are set to make their first semifinal appearance on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour at this week’s Baden Challenge after they continued to progress in the tournament on Saturday.

The French will now fight for their first medals together on Sunday, facing Swedish Jacob Hölting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson at 11:00 local time (9:00 GMT) at the Thermalstrandbad Baden in one of the semifinals. One hour earlier Americans Chase Budinger and Miles Evans and German Olympic medalists Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler will battle in the other semifinal. The gold medal match in Austria is scheduled for 15:00 (13:00 GMT).

• Watch Beach Pro Tour Baden Challenge live on VBTV

Bassereau, a former volleyball player, and Aye joined forces near the end of the 2024 Beach Pro Tour season, shortly after Bassereau got to represent France at the Paris Olympics with Julien Lyneel. Before hitting the sand this week in Baden, the French played in ten Beach Pro Tour events, but never made it past the quarterfinals.

The path to their first semifinal appearance in Baden started with a dramatic three-set (21-19, 19-21, 16-14) victory over Germans Paul Henning and Lui Wüst in the Round of 16 and continued with a sweep (21-16, 21-18) of Ukrainians Sergiy Popov and Eduard Reznik in the quarterfinals.

Their semifinal opponents, Hölting Nilsson and Andersson could make their second-straight and third-overall podium appearance on the Beach pro Tour this season in Baden. The Swedish got to Austria after taking silver at the Gstaad Elite and also claimed gold at the Malmö Futures in June.

They had the toughest path of all four semifinalists, having to win two tie-breakers on Saturday to advance. Hölting Nilsson and Andersson defeated the English Bello twins Javier and Joaquin 2-1 (21-17, 19-21, 15-10) in the Round of 16 and then prevailed over Germans Sven Winter and Lukas Pfretzschner also in three sets (21-11, 18-21, 15-12) in the quarterfinals.

French and Swedish faced each other twice in the final months of the 2024 Beach Pro Tour season and Hölting Nilsson and Andersson came out on top on both occasions.

Beach Pro Tour Baden Challenge – Match Schedule and Results

Americans back in the semifinals

For American Olympians Budinger and Evans, progressing through the elimination rounds in Baden on Saturday led them to returning to the semifinals on the Beach Pro Tour for the first time after over a year – they were fourth in the Xiamen Challenge, in April 2024. Partners since 2023, the Americans have won one gold, one silver and one bronze together.

Budinger and Evans started their third day of matches in Austria with a hard-fought, three-set (20-22, 21-19, 15-13) victory over Italians Alex Ranghieri and Manuel Alfieri in the Round of 16. A few hours later, they topped the home team of Tim Berger and Timo Hammarberg in straight sets (21-17, 21-19) in the quarterfinals.

Ehlers and Wickler’s qualification for the semifinals is also very meaningful for the Germans as it marks their return to the medal rounds of an international tournament for the first time since they won silver at the Paris Olympics last year. The two had a slow start to their 2025 season, but continued to progress and will have a chance to compete for medals for the first time this year on Sunday.

Like their next opponents, the Germans were also pushed hard in the Round of 16, but came out on top, defeating Spanish Adrián Gavira and Alejandro Huerta 2-1 (21-12, 18-21, 18-16). In the quarterfinals, they also had a tight match against Australian Olympians Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis, but managed to close it in two sets (21-18, 24-22).

Americans and Germans have met twice on the Beach Pro Tour ahead on Sunday’s duels and Ehlers and Wickler won on the two occasions, with both duels being held in the 2024 season.

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