Austrian sisters Dorina and Ronja Klinger were the sensations of the second day of the women’s main draw in Quintana Roo, securing a massive win over reigning Olympic champions Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos of Brazil on Thursday to claim the first place in Pool E of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite event held in Mexico.

The Austrians and the other five pool winners will start Friday directly in the Round of 12, while the Brazilians and the other 11 duos that finished second or third in their pools will need to go through the Round of 18 earlier in the day.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Quintana Roo Elite live on VBTV

Coming from a fifth-place finish at last week’s Yucatán Challenge, the Europeans took advantage of their better match fitness to overcome the Brazilians, who are making their return to international competition after seven months this week in Mexico.

Serving was another key for the Klingers, who fired 12 aces (seven from Ronja and five from Dorina) on their way to come from behind and secure the 2-1 (19-21, 21-13, 15-8) victory.

It was just the first time the two teams met on the Beach Pro Tour, but Austrians and Brazilians are very familiar with each other after they spent two weeks training together earlier this month in Uberlândia, where the Olympic champions have their training facility.

With two victories, the Austrians finished first in the pool and advanced directly to the Round of 12. The Olympians champions, who were second, and Italians Reka Orsi Toth and Giada Bianchi, who finished third, will play in the Round of 18.

VW Beach Pro Tour Quintana Roo Elite: Match Schedule and Results

Ukrainians upset Carol and Rebecca

Another upset in pool play at the Playa del Carmen happened in Pool F, where Ukrainian qualifiers Maryna Hladun and Tetiana Lazarenko topped the new Brazilian team of Carol Salgado and Rebecca Cavalcanti 2-1 (21-16, 14-21, 15-13) to finish first.

Two other duos coming from the qualifiers finished first in their pools – Paraguayan Olympians Michelle Valiente and Giuliana Poletti, who downed Dutch Raisa Schoon and Emi van Driel 2-1 (21-12, 17-21, 17-15) in Pool B, and Swiss Tanja Hüberli and Leona Kernen, who overcame top-seeded Americans Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher 2-0 (21-19, 22-20) in Pool A.

Americans Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft, who finished first in Pool C with a sweep (21-18, 21-12) of Lithuanian Olympians Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte, and FIVB World ranking leaders Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann of Germany, who were the top team in Pool D after a three-set (21-14, 16-21, 15-7) victory over Chinese Xinyi Xia and Zingzhe Wang, also advanced directly to the Round of 12.

The six Round of 18 duels, set to start at 12:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Friday, will have Nuss/Brasher vs. Brazil's Thamela Coradello/Victoria Lopes, Paulikiene/Raupelyte vs. USA's Corinne Quiggle/Chloe Loreen, Schoon/van Driel vs. Brazil's Andressa Cavalcanti/Tainá Bigi, Xia/Wang vs. USA's Kelly Cheng/Molly Shaw, Carol/Rebecca vs. Orsi Toth/Bianchi and Duda/Ana Patrícia vs. USA's Madelyne Anderson/Brook Bauer.

Friday’s match schedule in Mexico will also feature the Round of 12, with the quarterfinals and semifinals following on Saturday and the medal matches ending the event on Sunday.

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