All six pool leaders in the women’s Cape Town Elite tournament on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour lived up to their ranking and won their pools to jump straight into the second playoff round, but as many as five of them were pushed to tie-breaker sets by teams from the qualifications in their main draw openers. Four of those qualifiers went on to finish third in their pools and were joined by another two into the first elimination round.

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Top-seeded Thamela Coradello & Victoria Lopes of Brazil had to come back from a set down against bottom-seeded Norwegian qualifiers Nina Pavlova & Sunniva Helland-Hansen to win their Pool A opener by 2-1 (17-21, 21-15, 15-11), but then cruised to a 2-0 (21-19, 21-13) sweep of the pool final against Lithuanian Olympians Monika Paulikiene & Aine Raupelyte to jump straight into the round of 12. Pavlova & Helland-Hansen, seeded 24^th in the 24-team main draw, joined Paulikiene & Raupelyte into the round of 18 after a comeback victory of their own, over Italy’s Claudia Scampoli & Giada Bianchi, for the third place in the pool, 2-1 (19-21, 21-19, 15-13).

Another Italian duo, second-seeded Valentina Gottardi & Reka Orsi Toth advanced to the round of 12 from Pool B. 23^rd-seeded American qualifiers Carly Kan & Devanne Sours pushed them deep into the overtime of the tie-breaker in their first-leg game before the Italians could celebrate a 2-1 (21-17, 16-21, 19-17) win. Gottardi & Orsi Toth were way more convincing in the pool final, 2-0 (21-12, 21-15) over Czechia’s Marketa Svozilova & Marie-Sara Stochlova. Kan & Sours took the third ticket to the playoffs by beating Brazilians Vitoria Rodrigues & Hegeile Almeida in straight sets and knocking them out of contention.

Pool C unfolded in a similar scenario. Third-seeded pool leaders Svenja Muller & Cinja Tillmann of Germany started off with a three-set win over 22^nd-seeded qualifiers Ieva Vasiliauskaite & Erika Kliokmanaite of Lithuania, 2-1 (21-19, 20-22, 15-7), and finished the job with a straight-set win of the pool winners match against Austria’s Dorina Klinger & Ronja Klinger, 2-0 (21-19, 21-18), while Ievute & Kliokmanaite bounced back with a 2-1 (21-16, 14-21, 15-11) victory over Czechia’s Kylie Neuschaeferova & Martina Maixnerova to take third place and stay in contention.

The storyline in Pool D was pretty much the same. Only, fourth-seeded Anouk Verge-Depre & Zoe Verge-Depre of Switzerland survived tie-breakers in both their matches, beating two American opponents - 2-1 (21-16, 24-26, 15-7) against 21^st-seeded qualifiers Teegan Van Gunst & Piper Ferch in the first leg and 2-1 (21-12, 16-21, 15-13) against Corinne Quiggle & Chloe Loreen in the pool final. Van Gunst & Ferch took third place after knocking out South African home favorites Tatiana Simopoulos & Costandina Kinsey.

Two German teams met in the Pool F winners match. After coming back from a set down against Estonian qualifiers Heleene Hollas & Liisa Remmelg to take a 2-1 (18-21, 21-17, 15-11) win, sixth-seeded Linda Bock & Louisa Lippmann claimed a 2-0 (22-20, 21-17) victory over seventh-seeded Sandra Ittlinger & Anna-Lena Grune to book a direct ticket to the round of 12. In a tight third-place game between two duos emerging from the qualifiers, Lithuania’s Ieva Vasiliauskaite & Erika Kliokmanaite earned a 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) win over Hollas & Remmelg to survive in the tournament.

Pool E was the only one where no tie-breakers were played. One of the teams that made it to this pool from the qualifications, Dutch Olympians Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon, started off with an emphatic 2-0 (21-14, 21-14) victory over French Olympians Clemence Vieira & Aline Chamereau, but, in a high-caliber pool final, they were shut out by fifth-seeded Latvian Olympians Tina Graudina & Anastasija Samoilova, 2-0 (21-16, 21-18). Vieira & Chamereau also advanced to the playoffs after knocking Mozambican qualifiers Vanessa Muianga & Mercia Mucheza out with a speedy sweep of the third-place game.

The first women’s elimination round will be played later on Friday, starting at 18:00 local time (16:00 UTC), while the round of 12 and the quarterfinals are scheduled on Saturday.

Beach Pro Tour Cape Town Elite: schedule and results

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