Latvian standouts Anastasija Samoilova & Tina Graudina made it to the semifinals of the women’s tournament at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Jurmala Challenge event. This is the first time the reigning European champions reach this milestone in a senior world-level or continental competition at their home venue by the Baltic Sea. In one of Sunday’s semifinals, Anastasija & Tina will take on Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson. In the other, Brazil’s Taina Bigi & Victoria Lopes will lock horns with Switzerland’s Zoe Verge-Depre & Esmee Bobner.
Beach Pro Tour
Home favourites Tina & Anastasija power through to Jurmala semis
The Latvians to take on Melissa & Brandie; Taina & Victoria up against Esmee & Zoe in the other semifinal
Published 04:41, 17 Jun 2023
Tina & Anastasija smiling upon success
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In Saturday’s eighthfinals, top-seeded Anastasija & Tina claimed a hard-fought 2-0 (21-18, 22-20) win over Finnish qualifiers Taru Lahti-Liukkonen & Niina Ahtiainen. Their serving was key to the success in this match as Anastasija fired five aces and Tina added another two. Lahti was the best scorer of the match with 18 points, including the only four kill blocks registered by anybody in this game. After a relatively one-sided first set of their quarterfinal duel with Italy’s Claudia Scampoli & Margherita Bianchin, Anastasija & Tina had to put up quite a fight in the second to achieve another straight-set victory, 2-0 (21-13, 21-19). Tina hammered out the match high of 22 points, including three kill blocks and an ace.
Melissa & Brandie were the first to book a spot among the semifinalists. The third-seeded Canadians started their day with an emphatic 2-0 (21-14, 21-14) eighthfinal shutout of Lithuanian qualifiers Monika Paulikiene & Aine Raupelyte, capitalizing mostly on the abundant opponent errors. In the quarterfinals, Melissa & Brandie defeated Chinese qualifiers Dong Jie & Wang Fan, also in straight sets, 2-0 (22-20, 21-16). Melissa produced the match high of 20 points, including two aces, while Brandie chipped in with an impressive five kill blocks towards a 15-point tally.
Brandie on the serve
Taina & Victoria had a tough eighthfinal match-up with second-seeded Anouk Verge-Depre & Joana Mader of Switzerland. After losing the first set in the overtime, the sixth-seeded Brazilians battled their way back to a 2-1 (22-20, 21-17, 15-11) win. Victoria and Verge-Depre shared the top scorer honours of the match with 24 points each. Taina & Victoria’s quarterfinal was more straight-forward. They outlasted fifth-seeded Xue Chen & Xia Xinyi of China in two sets, 2-0 (21-19, 21-16) with a 19-point match high from Victoria.
Esmee & Zoe booked the last spot in the semifinals. It was the second time in their Beach Pro Tour journey so far to reach this far in a tournament, after their fourth place at the Itapema Challenge earlier this season. Competing as the 11th seed in the Jurmala main draw, the Swiss pair emerged victorious from a tough eighthfinal battle with 12th-seeded Americans Betsi Flint & Julia Scoles. With a 26-point match high from Esmee, including four kill blocks and two aces, they celebrated a 2-1 (21-19, 17-21, 15-13) win. In their quarterfinal game, Esmee & Zoe outplayed 13th-seeded Brazilians Andressa Cavalcanti & Vitoria Rodrigues on the way to a 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) sweep. Zoe spearheaded the Swiss offence with 16 kills, while Esmee impressed with four aces. Andressa was the best scorer of the match with 20 points to her name, including three aces and three blocks.
On Sunday, Tina & Anastasija will open the competition programme at 11:00 local time (08:00 UTC) with their semifinal against Melissa & Brandie. The second semifinal, between Taina & Victoria and Esmee & Zoe, will start at 12:00 (09:00). The bronze medal match is set at 15:30 (12:30), and the battle for the gold at 17:30 (14:30).
