Beach Pro Tour

Australia and USA grab two qualifying spots each for Chennai women’s main draw

Pairs from Austria, France, Lithuania and Poland also advance from the qualifications

Published 04:02, 21 Nov 2024

USA’s Toni Rodriguez

Two Australian and two American pairs made their way to the Chennai Challenge women’s main draw from Thursday’s qualifications. Another four duos from Austria, France, Lithuania and Poland also passed successfully through the qualification grind and will compete among the best 24 of this Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour event continuing in India on Friday.

Watch the Chennai Challenge on VBTV.

USA’s Molly Shaw & Toni Rodriguez, seeded on top of the qualification bracket, had to play only one match on Thursday, in which they secured an emphatic 2-0 (21-15, 21-10) win over Norway’s Sunniva Helland-Hansen & Kirstine Garder. This was the second time in a row that the recently formed American duo pushed through the qualifiers to the main draw. They did so last week at the Haikou Challenge in China and went on to reach the final and pick up silver.

Seventh-seeded Savannah Simo & Abby Van Winkle also started their campaign from the second qualification round and emerged victorious with a convincing 2-0 (21-12, 21-15) sweep of an all-American clash with compatriots Alaina Chacon & Molly Phillips.

Second-seeded Stefanie Fejes & Jana Milutinovic and fourth-seeded Jasmine Fleming & Elizabeth Alchin, both from Australia, also celebrated straight-set wins in their only qualification matches – 2-0 (21-19, 21-14) against Poland’s Marta Lodej & Julia Kielak and 2-0 (24-22, 21-17) against France’s Elsa Descamps & Romane Sobezalz, respectively.

The third-seeded team lived up to its status and qualified for the main draw as well. French Paris 2024 Olympians Lezana Placette & Alexia Richard, who also made it from the qualifiers to the podium last week, taking bronze in Haikou, defeated Slovakia’s Lubica Siposova & Martina Terenova in straight sets, 2-0 (21-11, 21-16).

The remaining three successful teams had to win two matches each to progress to the main draw. Poland’s Malgorzata Ciezkowska & Urszula Lunio, seeded 12^th, were the lowest ranked duo to qualify and the only one of the eight, who had to play a tie-breaker on Thursday. They started their day with a 2-1 (21-16, 15-21, 15-11) victory over Denmark’s Anna Hauge & Sofia Bisgaard and went on to deliver a 2-0 (21-16, 22-20) upset of fifth-seeded Ieva Dumbauskaite & Ieva Vasiliauskaite, the highest ranked team not to qualify.

Austria’s Franziska Friedl & Lia Berger, seeded 11^th, mastered a 2-0 (21-17, 21-13) shutout of Poland’s Maja Kruczek & Natalia Okla and a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) upset of sixth-seeded Janne Uhl & Paula Schurholz of Germany.

Ninth-seeded Daniele Kvedaraite & Jekaterina Kovalskaja of Lithuania also achieved two straight-set wins – 2-0 (21-11, 21-15) over Japan’s Keiko Urata & Minami Asano and 2-0 (21-19, 24-22) over Netherlands’ Lisa Luini & Desy Poiesz.