Playing in a Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite event for just the second time in their careers this week, French Elouan Chouikh and Joadel Gardoque are one win away from claiming their first medal at this level at the 1xBet Itapema Elite.

The young Europeans overcame two elimination rounds on Saturday in Brazil and will compete with two teams from the host country and one from Latvia in the Final Four of the event held at the Meia Praia Beach on Sunday.

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Chouikh and Gardoque will play Brazilian qualifiers André Loyola and Renato Lima in one of the men's tournament semifinals, with Brazilian Olympians Evandro Gonçalves and Arthur Lanci and Latvians Martins Plavins and Kristians Fokerots matching up in the other. The final is scheduled for 17:00 local time (20:00 UTC), with the bronze medal match taking place two hours earlier.

Partners since the final months of the 2024 Beach Pro Tour season, the 23-year-old Chouikh and the 22-year-old Gardoque won their only medal together in July, when they triumphed in the Montpellier Futures. The two made their debut in Elite events as recently as two months ago, finishing 13th in Cape Town, and will have the chance of winning a medal in an event of the highest level on the Beach Pro Tour in just their second attempt.

After accumulating two wins in three matches in the first two days of main draw action in Itapema, the French raised their level on Saturday, when they beat two more experienced teams to find their way to the semifinals. Chouikh and Gardoque swept (21-12, 21-19) Brazilians George Wanderley and Saymon Barbosa in the Round of 12, and then prevailed over the American Crabb brothers Trevor and Taylor in the tie-breaker (21-17, 15-21, 15-12) to get themselves into the battle for medals.

Their semifinal opponents, André and Renato had a mixed day in Itapema on Saturday. After winning three straight matches between Wednesday and Friday, the Brazilians were taken down the first time in the event, falling to the Crabbs in three sets (21-17, 18-21, 16-14) in the Round of 12. They still advanced as one of the two highest-ranked teams to be upset in the Round of 12, and made the most of their second life in the event, beating compatriots Arthur Mariano and Adrielson dos Santos 2-1 (9-21, 21-17, 15-6) to make it to the semifinals for the first time in their fifth event as partners.

Brazilians and Latvians ready for rematch

The other Sunday semifinal will be a rematch of one of the six Round of 12 duels that took place on Saturday in Itapema, and had Evandro and Arthur sweeping (21-18, 21-18) Plavins and Fokerots to move forward. A few hours later, the Brazilians secured their spots in the semifinals with another two-set (21-19, 21-16) victory, this one against Italians Samuele Cottafava and Gianluca Dal Corso.

This will be Evandro and Arthur's fourth semifinal appearance in the 2025 season, and the third in Brazil - they won gold in João Pessoa and silver in Brasília, and also finished second in Newport Beach, the United States.

Like André and Renato, Plavins and Fokerots, the 2024 European champions, also continued alive after their Round of 12 upset, and bounced back and knocked the Chilean Grimalt cousins Marco and Esteban out in the quarterfinals with a two-set (21-18, 24-22) victory to make it to the semifinals for the third time in the season, repeating what they did in Hamburg and Rio de Janeiro, where they finished fourth.

Beach Pro Tour Itapema Elite - Match Schedule

Sunday's semifinal will mark the sixth encounter between Brazilians and Latvians in the 2025 season and Evandro and Arthur Lanci won four of the first five, including the last three. The Europeans only prevailed in Ostrava, back in May.

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