Saturday’s single elimination programme included only one match for Molly & Shaw. After skipping the first knockout round as pool winners, the Americans managed to skip the third round as well. After mastering a 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) sweep of their second-round game against Thailand’s Taravadee Naraphornrapat & Woranatchayakorn Phirachayakrailert, they were among the two of the last six teams with the best records and progressed straight to the semifinals.
Their semifinal opponents, however, battled their way through all three knockout rounds on Saturday, winning two of their matches in tie-breaker sets. In the first round, Hladun & Lazarenko claimed a 2-0 (21-17, 21-18) win over Lithuania’s Daniele Kvedaraite & Jekaterina Kovalskaja. In the second, they came back from a set down to beat Australia’s Jasmine Fleming & Elizabeth Alchin by 2-1 (17-21, 21-9, 15-12). Another Australian duo, third-seeded Taliqua Clancy & Georgia Johnson, was their last obstacle on the way to the last four, but the Ukrainians persevered for a 2-1 (21-16, 18-21, 16-14) upset and made it to their first ever Challenge-level semifinals.
Paulikiene & Raupelyte were the second team to play only one match on Saturday and progress to the semis. However, the Paris 2024 Olympians survived a tough challenge from Ukraine’s Valentyna Davidova & Daria Romaniuk, coming back from a set down by winning the next two, both in the overtime, for a 2-1 (17-21, 23-21, 16-14) victory.
Meanwhile, Harward & DeBerg had to win three knockout matches on the way to the semis. They beat their first two opponents on Saturday in straight-set upsets, 2-0 (21-18, 21-13) against eighth-seeded Emi van Driel & Wies Bekhuis of the Netherlands and 2-0 (24-22, 21-13) against second-seeded Taru Lahti-Liukkonen & Niina Ahtiainen of Finland. In the third round, Harward & DeBerg celebrated a hard-fought 2-1 (19-21, 21-15, 16-14) comeback against fellow Americans Madelyne Anderson & Brook Bauer and progressed to their first Beach Pro Tour semifinal.
On Sunday, Paulikiene & Raupelyte and Harward & DeBerg will meet at 08:00 local time (02:30 UTC), and Hladun & Lazarenko and Molly & Shaw will lock horns at 09:00 (03:30). The bronze medal match is at 15:00 (09:30) and the final will start at 16:30 (11:00).
