With the men’s semifinal match-ups at the Xiamen Challenge on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour finalized on Saturday, as many as two teams coming from Wednesday’s qualifications – Norway’s Markus Mol & Adrian Mol and Switzerland’s Marco Krattiger & Leo Dillier – are still in contention. In Sunday’s duels for the advancement to the final, they will meet Qatar’s Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan and France’s Teo Rotar & Arnaud Gauthier-Rat, respectively.

• Watch the Xiamen Challenge on VBTV

The young Beachvolley Vikings, Markus Mol & Adrian Mol, were the lowest ranked team to reach the semifinals. Playing under number 29 in the 32-team main draw bracket, the Norwegian duo produced two straight-set victories on Saturday to reach the last four of a Challenge tournament for the first time, both as a pair and individually. In the eighthfinals, Mol & Mol hammered out a 2-0 (21-16, 21-14) shutout of Italy’s Manuel Alfieri & Alex Ranghieri, and in the quarterfinals, they claimed a 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) victory over American Olympians Chase Budinger & Miles Evans with three aces and five kill blocks from Markus.

On Sunday, the Mols will have an opportunity to challenge the top-seeded team in the tournament, the former world’s number team of Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan. The Qatari standouts started their day with a hard-fought 2-0 (21-15, 27-25) eighthfinal win over third-seeded Christoph Dressler & Philipp Waller with two aces and five kill blocks from Cherif. Then, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medalists mastered a convincing 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) quarterfinal victory over Swiss qualifiers Adrian Heidrich & Jonathan Jordan.

20^th-seeded Teo Rotar & Arnaud Gauthier-Rat also achieved two straight-set victories on Saturday and made it to their first Beach Pro Tour semifinal as a team. In a tight eighthfinal, the Frenchmen took a 2-0 (21-18, 22-20) win over ninth-seeded Alexander Horst & Paul Pascariuc of Austria. 21-year-old Rotar, a 2021 U19 world champion, made a key contribution of five aces and three kill blocks to offset Pascariuc’s solid blocking effort that brought the Austrian team seven points. An even narrower 2-0 (24-22, 21-19) victory over Israeli qualifiers Eylon Elazar & Kevin Cuzmiciov in the quarterfinals secured a semifinal spot for Rotar & Gauthier-Rat.

Switzerland’s Marco Krattiger & Leo Dillier will lock horns with the French duo in Sunday’s semifinals. They battled it out through two tie-breaker matches against high-seeded teams on Saturday to make it to a Challenge-level semifinal for the first time as a pair. Seeded 24^th in the main draw bracket, Krattiger & Dillier came back from a set down against second-seeded Australian Olympians Mark Nicolaidis & Izac Carracher to deliver a 2-1 (16-21, 21-18, 15-6) upset in the eighthfinals with four aces from Dillier and five kill blocks from Krattiger. In an all-Swiss quarterfinal, they put together a 2-1 (21-19, 23-25, 15-7) victory over seventh-seeded compatriots Yves Haussener & Julian Friedli. An impressive eight kill blocks by Krattiger towards a match-high 28 points made a big difference in the match.

Cherif & Ahmed and Mol & Mol will open Sunday’s competition day at 10:00 local time (02:00 UTC). Rotar & Gauthier-Rat and Krattiger & Dillier will hit the sand one hour later. Later on Sunday, the bronze medal game will start at 16:15 (08:15) and the final will serve off at 19:30 (11:30).

VW Beach Pro Tour Xiamen Challenge: match schedule and results

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