Beach Pro Tour

Crabb & Brunner squeeze through to Nuvali main draw in nail-biting manner

Three pairs from Germany and one each from Estonia, Portugal, Sweden and Ukraine also advance from Thursday’s qualifiers

Published 03:05, 28 Nov 2024

USA’s Taylor Crabb

The recently formed duo of well-seasoned Americans Taylor Crabb & Theodore Brunner had a nerve-wracking day at the Nuvali Challenge on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. They won both their qualification matches in straight sets and made it to the men’s main draw, but three of the four sets they played were resolved by the narrowest of margins in the overtime. Three pairs from Germany and one each from Estonia, Portugal, Sweden and Ukraine also advanced from the qualifiers to the main draw in the Philippines.

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Seeded 17^th in the qualification bracket, Crabb & Brunner started off with a 2-0 (21-18, 26-24) victory over 16^th-seeded Czechs Adam Waber & Matyas Jezek in the first qualification round. In the second, the Americans managed a narrow 2-0 (22-20, 25-23) upset of top-seeded Australians D'Artagnan Potts & Jack Pearse.

Crabb/Brunner vs. Waber/Jezek - Qualification Highlights | Nuvali 2024 #BeachProTour

Swedish teenagers Jacob Holting Nilsson & Elmer Andersson, seeded second in the qualifications, were quite emphatic in both their matches on Thursday. In the deciding second-round game, last week’s Chennai Challenge winners mastered a 2-0 (21-9, 21-16) shutout of Norway’s Even Stray Aas & Adrian Mol.

Another pair of teens, 19-year-old Germans Tamo Wust & Tristan Frobel were the lowest ranked team to qualify for the main draw. Seeded 25^th, they celebrated two upsets of Thai pairs on Thursday - 2-1 (21-19, 12-21, 15-11) over eighth-seeded Netitorn Muneekul & Wachirawit Muadpha in the first round and 2-0 (21-12, 23-21) over ninth-seeded Dunwinit Kaewsai & Banlue Nakprakhong in the second.

Another two German duos pushed through to the main draw. In their deciding matches, third-seeded Paul Henning & Lui Wust celebrated a 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) win over Poland’s Szymon Beta & Filip Lejawa, while fourth-seeded Jonas Sagstetter & Benedikt Sagstetter achieved a tight 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) victory over another Polish team, Jakub Krzeminski & Szymon Pietraszek.

Henning/Wüst vs. Bucknam/Ierna - Qualification Highlights | Nuvali 2024 #BeachProTour

In their second-round game, 21^st-seeded Ukrainians Ivan Datsiuk & Oleksii Bublyk hammered out a merciless 2-0 (21-12, 21-16) upset of fifth-seeded Frenchmen Joadel Genevieve Gardoque & Elouan Chouikh-Barbez, while sixth-seeded Mart Tiisaar & Dimitriy Korotkov of Estonia and seventh-seeded Goncalo Sousa & Tomas Sousa of Portugal lived up to their status and advanced to the main draw with victories over Thailand’s Pithak Tipjan & Poravid Taovato, 2-0 (21-16, 21-13), and over England’s Frederick Bialokoz & Issa Batrane, 2-1 (15-21, 21-18, 15-11), respectively.