One of the three men’s teams that stepped on the podium the last time the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour was in Montréal, two years ago, Americans Miles Partain and Andy Benesh will have a longer path to repeat the result at this week’s Elite event held in the Canadian city, but they started their trajectory on the right foot on Wednesday.

The Paris 2024 Olympians were among the four men’s teams that overcame the qualifier on the first day of matches at the Parc Jean-Drapeau and will be back on the sand when the main draw begins on Thursday. Four women’s duos also went undefeated and claimed the last spots in the pool phase.

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Partain, 23, and Benesh, 30, took silver in 2023, when international beach volleyball returned to Montréal after 16 years. The Americans haven’t returned to a gold medal match on the Beach Pro Tour since then and, having made it to the podium just once in their last 14 international events, had to start their campaign this week in the qualifier.

The top-seeded duo among the men, the Americans had to play only one match in the qualifier, and they had no trouble taking down Swiss Yves Haussener and Julian Friedli in straight sets (21-14, 21-16) to advance.

In the main draw, the Olympians will be in Pool D, alongside Brazilian Olympians Evandro Gonçalves and Arthur Lanci, reigning world champions Ondřej Perušič and David Schweiner of Czechia and Canadian wildcards Sam Schachter and Jonathan Pickett.

Australian Olympians Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis had a smooth ride in the Montréal Elite qualifier, beating the home team of Guillaume Rivest and Jacob Van Geel 2-0 (21-13, 21-18) and Austrians Christoph Dressler and Philipp Waller also in straight sets (21-16, 21-19).

The same happened to Germans Sven Winter and Lukas Pfretzschner, who downed Austrian Olympians Robin Seidl and Alexander Huber in two sets (21-17, 22-20) in their first match and swept (21-8, 21-15) Canadians Tynan Gannett and Luke de Greeff in the second.

The fourth men’s team to qualify, the Chilean Grimalt cousins Marco and Esteban topped two Brazilian duos in their way to the main draw – they started the day with a two-set (21-16, 21-12) victory over Vinícius Freitas and Heitor Benito and ended it triumphing against George Wanderley and Saymon Barbosa in the tie-breaker (18-21, 23-21, 15-12).

Australia advance two women’s teams

Australia were easily the most successful country on Wednesday’s qualifier in Montréal, as besides Nicolaidis and Carracher, they saw two women’s duos move forward. Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Taliqua Clancy and partner Jana Milutinovic did so in great fashion, as they swept (21-17, 21-13) the home team of Devin Corah and Ruby Sorra in the first round and then did the same to Dutch Emi van Driel and Wies Bekhuis, winning 2-0 (21-17, 21-18).

Their compatriots Elizabeth Alchin and Georgia Johnson also earned a two-set (21-19, 21-15) victory in their first match, in which they eliminated Japanese Asami Shiba and Reika Murakami, but were pushed to three later, overcoming Czechs Kylie Neuschaeferova and Martina Maixnerova in the tie-breaker (19-21, 21-12, 17-15).

Fresh from taking silver at the Baden Challenge last weekend, Dutch Mila Konink and Raisa Schoon also advanced after sweeping (21-8, 21-9) Canadians Dana Roskic and Emma Kunaus in the first round and defeating Americans Savvy Simo and Abby Van Winkle in the tie-breaker (21-14, 11-21, 15-9).

Spanish Olympians Daniela Álvarez and Tania Moreno claimed the fourth and last spot in the women’s main draw with a sweep (21-13, 21-14) over Canadians Kaylee Glagau and Emma Glagau and a two-set (24-22, 21-13) victory over French Olympians Lézana Placette and Alexia Richard.

Beach Pro Tour Montréal Elite – Match Schedule & Results

Pool play will be held between Thursday and Friday. The four pool winners will advance directly to the quarterfinals, while teams ranked second and third will have to play in the Round of 12 – both phases will take place on Saturday. The semifinals and medal matches will conclude the event on Sunday.

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