Latvia’s Anastasija Samoilova & Tina Graudina continued their victorious run at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 in Doha and made it from Tuesday’s qualifiers all the way to Saturday’s semifinals, where they will meet Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson. The Canadians, on the other hand, delivered a quarterfinal upset of the world’s number one team Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) & Ana Patricia Ramos of Brazil. In the other women’s semifinal, Sara Hughes & Kelly Cheng of the United States will take on Brazil’s Barbara Seixas & Carol Solberg.

Stefan Boermans & Yorick de Groot showed their solid intentions towards the Paris 2024 Olympics by outrunning all Dutch compatriots to the men’s semifinals, where they will face reigning Olympic champions Anders Mol & Christian Sorum of Norway, while Germany’s Clemens Wickler & Nils Ehlers challenge top-seeded David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden.

· Watch the Doha Elite16 main draw live on VBTV.

On Friday, Anastasija & Tina registered their sixth consecutive victory in Doha. After going through two qualification and three pool-stage wins, the 13^th-seeded Latvians advanced straight to the quarterfinals for an encounter with 10^th-seeded Italians Marta Menegatti & Valentina Gottardi. Anastasija & Tina hammered out a 2-0 (21-19, 21-13) shutout and moved on to the semifinals for a second meeting (Saturday at 10:00 local time / 07:00 UTC) with fourth-seeded Melissa & Brandie, whom they already defeated in three sets in pool play.

The Canadians had to start the knockout phase from the eighthfinals earlier on Friday. They first came back from a set down against Brazilian qualifiers Agatha Bednarczuk & Rebecca Cavalcanti to celebrate a 2-1 (16-21, 21-17, 15-11) win, before battling out a 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) semifinal shutout of top-seeded Duda & Ana Patricia.

The other two pool toppers managed to win their quarterfinals on Friday, both after coming back from a set down in their matches. Third-seeded Americans Hughes & Cheng, reigning world champions, delivered a 2-1 (13-21, 21-13, 15-13) victory over Switzerland’s Nina Brunner & Tanja Huberli, while Brazil’s second-ranked team, seventh-seeded Barbara & Carol, achieved a 2-1 (17-21, 21-15, 16-14) win over Germany’s Louisa Lippmann & Laura Ludwig. The Americans and the Brazilians will lock horns for a spot in the final at 11:00 (08:00).

On the men’s side, sixth-seeded Dutchmen Boermans & De Groot had a quarterfinal encounter with Qatar’s Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan and disappointed the home fans with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) shutout. They are still the third ranked Dutch pair in the race for the country’s two Olympic quota, but also with much fewer tournaments played than their higher ranked compatriots, which means great potential for catching up and making it to Paris.

On Saturday at 13:00 (10:00), in one of the semifinals, they will take on the world’s number one team Mol & Sorum, whom they already beat in three sets in pool play. The Norwegians took advantage of an injury forfeit from Poland’s Michal Bryl & Bartosz Losiak to move on to the quarterfinals, where they powered through a three-set 2-1 (21-17, 21-23, 15-12) victory over reigning world champions Ondrej Perusic & David Schweiner of Czechia.

An hour earlier, at 12:00 (09:00), eighth-seeded Ehlers & Wickler will cross swords with top-seeded Ahman & Hellvig in the other men’s semifinal. On Friday, the Germans celebrated two straight-set victories – 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) in their eighthfinal against Alexander Brouwer & Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands, and 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) in their quarterfinal against fourth-seeded Italians Paolo Nicolai & Samuele Cottafava. The Swedish jump-setters skipped the first knockout round and then knocked out Dutchmen Steven van de Velde & Matthew Immers in a tight 2-0 (21-15, 24-22) quarterfinal.

The four medal matches will feature in the evening session on Saturday in Doha. The women’s third-place game will start at 17:00 local time (14:00 UTC), followed by the men’s bronze medal match at 18:00 (15:00). The battle for the women’s gold is set to begin at 19:00 (16:00) and the men’s showdown at 20:00 (17:00) will close the event.

VW Beach Pro Tour Doha Elite16: schedule and results

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