Crabb and Benesh enjoy perfect first day as partners in Brazil

Americans Taylor Crabb and Andy Benesh couldn't have hoped for a better start as partners, as the two earned a pair of victories at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour João Pessoa Elite on Thursday.

Playing together for the first time, the Americans are among the nine teams to end the first day of pool play matches in Brazil undefeated and are already guaranteed a spot in the tournament's Round of 16.

• Watch the João Pessoa Elite live on VBTV

Crabb, 34, and Benesh, 30, announced their partnership at the end of January and made their debut less than two months later, beating Australian Olympians Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis in straight sets (21-19, 21-16) in their Pool B opener in João Pessoa.

A few hours later, they returned to the sand and delivered another strong performance to sweep (21-9, 21-18) Brazilians Vinicius Freitas and Heitor Benitto and book their tickets to the Round of 16.

On Friday, the Americans will end their pool play campaign in Brazil with what should be a more challenging match, against FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship silver medalists Jacob Hölting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson of Sweden, who are also undefeated after beating the Brazilians in the tie-breaker (19-21, 22-20, 15-11) and sweeping (21-16, 22-20) the Australians.

Taylor's older brother Trevor also went unharmed in João Pessoa on Thursday, winning a pair of tie-breakers alongside new partner Robert Harrison to have a promising start in Pool F.

The Americans, who played in Wednesday's qualifier, started the day beating compatriots and Paris Olympians Miles Evans and Chase Budinger 2-1 (15-21, 21-19, 15-7) and repeated the three-set (21-19, 19-21, 16-14) victory over the Argentine Capogrosso brothers Tomas and Nicolás a few hours later.

The other two matches of the pool had the home team of Vitor Felipe and Felipe Alves topping the Capogrossos 2-1 (19-21, 21-18, 15-11) and Evans and Budinger beating the Brazilians 2-1 (21-13, 20-22, 21-19).

French dominate Pool D

Pool D had two teams undefeated after the first day of matches, and they are both from France. Elouan Chouikh-Barbez and Joadel Gardoque had the best campaign among the two, beating Brazilians Arthur Mariano and Adrielson dos Santos 2-0 (21-19, 21-14) in their debut and sweeping (21-17, 21-18) Latvians Ardis Bedritis and Arturs Rinkevics a few hours later.

Their compatriots Rémi Bassereau and Calvin Aye also handled the Latvians in two sets (21-19, 21-18), but needed all three (22-24, 21-9, 15-8) to overcome the Brazilians in their second match of the day.

Pool E also had two teams emerging unscathed after a pair of pool play matches on Thursday. Coming from the qualifier, Swiss Marco Krattiger and Leo Dillier downed Brazilians Adelmo Folha and Mateus Dultra 2-1 (21-16, 16-21, 15-6) and defeated Germans Maximilian Just and Lui Wüst in straight sets (21-14, 24-22).

Austrians Tim Berger and Timo Hammarberg also produced two victories, overcoming the Germans 2-1 (16-21, 21-19, 15-8) and the South Americans also in the tie-breaker (21-19, 16-21, 15-8).

Paris Olympians Evandro Gonçalves and Arthur Lanci formed the only Brazilian team to secure two victories on Thursday after they swept (21-17, 21-17) the German Sagstetter brothers Jonas and Benedikt and defeated Canadians Sam Schachter and Jonathan Pickett also in two sets (21-16, 21-17) in Pool A.

Both teams, however, managed to get wins on Thursday, beating Portuguese Hugo Campos and João Pedrosa - the Canadians won 2-1 (21-18, 16-21, 15-5) and the Germans prevailed in straight sets (22-20, 21-15).

Reigning Olympic and world champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden also earned two victories to start ahead in Pool C. The Europeans swept (21-8, 21-15) American qualifiers Cody Caldwell and Jacob La Bouliere in their first match and were pushed to the tie-breaker against the new Austrian team of Moritz Pristauz and Philipp Waller before triumphing 2-1 (18-21, 21-17, 19-17).

Brazilians George Wanderley and Saymon Barbosa had a mixed day in João Pessoa, losing to the Austrians in the tie-breaker (21-13, 15-21, 16-14) in their first match and topping the Americans also in three sets (23-25, 21-16, 15-7) in the second.

Beach Pro Tour João Pessoa Elite - Match Schedule & Results

On Friday, the men will complete pool play in João Pessoa, with the first matches beginning at 13:00 local time (16:00 UTC).

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