Paraguayan Olympians Michelle Valiente and Giuliana Poletti made great progress in the opening day of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Quintana Roo Elite event, advancing from not one, but two rounds of the tournament held in Mexico on Wednesday.

One of the eight teams to secure one of the last spots in the main draw through the qualifier, the South Americans opened their pool play campaign a few hours later and triumphed again, advancing to the elimination rounds.

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

The 26-year-old Michelle and the 24-year-old Poletti, who became the first Paraguayan players to compete at the Olympics last year in Paris, started the day in the qualifier, where they were faced with another team that competed at the iconic Eiffel Tower Stadium a few months back – France’s Alexia Richard and Lézana Placette, who they defeated in straight sets (21-13, 21-19).

Five hours later, the Paraguayans made their main draw debut at the Playa del Carmen and produced a big upset, taking down second-seeded Brazilians Thamela Coradello and Victoria Lopes in the tie-breaker (17-21, 21-18, 15-11).

With the victory, Michelle and Poletti are guaranteed in the Round of 18 as one of the three teams from Pool B to advance to the elimination rounds. They will face Dutch Raisa Schoon and Emi van Driel on Thursday and can secure a spot in the Round of 12 if they win – the Europeans defeated Americans Toni Rodriguez and Kylie DeBerg 2-1 (20-22, 25-23, 15-8) in their match.

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

Olympic champions return with a win

Absent from the Beach Pro Tour for the last eight months, reigning Olympic champions Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos of Brazil returned to international competition with a win in Quintana Roo.

The Brazilians started behind against Italian qualifiers Reka Orsi Toth and Giada Bianchi, but improved throughout the match to claim a 2-1 (20-22, 21-13, 15-10) victory in the first match of their campaign in Pool E.

Duda and Ana Patrícia will meet the Austrian Klinger sisters Ronja and Dorina on Thursday, with the winners advancing directly to the Round of 12 of the Quintana Roo Elite event. In their debut, the Europeans topped another Italian team that emerged from the qualifier, the one of Valentina Gottardi and Claudia Scampoli, the winners of last week's Yucatán Challenge, in straight sets (21-19, 21-18).

Besides Paraguayans and Italians, also advanced from the qualifier USA’s Kimberly Hildreth/Teegan Van Gunst, Madelyne Anderson/Brook Bauer and Corinne Quiggle/Chloe Loreen, Ukraine’s Maryna Hladun/Tetiana Lazarenko and Finland’s Taru Lahti/Niina Athiainen.

Thursday’s women’s schedule in Mexico will have the conclusion of pool play, with 12 matches set to be played during the day. By the end of the day, 18 of the 24 teams that were part of the main draw will continue alive, with the six pool winners advancing to the Round of 12 and the teams ranked second and third in their pools making it to the Round of 18.

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