On Saturday, 16th-seeded Cory & Caldwell put an end to German qualifiers Momme Lorenz & Tilo Rietschel’s winning streak with a 2-0 (21-14, 21-15) shutout in the second elimination round. This was not enough for jumping straight into the semifinals according to the newly introduced Challenge competition format, so the American duo had an additional step to make on the way to the last four. In the so-called round of six, they took on the ninth-seeded pairing of French Olympian Remi Bassereau with Calvin Aye and managed to beat them in a 2-1 (21-19, 14-21, 15-9) three-setter, mostly capitalizing on opponent errors.
On Sunday, Cory & Caldwell will try to get back at fourth-seeded Dal Corso & Viscovich for the straight-set loss they suffered earlier, in the Pool D winners match. In the second knockout round, the Italian duo dropped their first set of the tournament, but claimed a 2-1 (14-21, 21-16, 15-9) comeback victory over Austria’s Laurenc Grossig & Paul Pascariuc to maintain a record still good enough for a direct passage to the semifinals. Dal Corso led the way with an impressive nine kill blocks towards a match-high 22 points.
Top-seeded Hodges & Schubert were the other team that made the semis without having to play in the round of six. The Australian Olympians mastered a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) sweep of their round of 12 game against Latvia’s Ardis Bedritis & Arturs Rinkevics.
Huster & Just, seeded third in the main draw, started the day with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-12) upset of another Australian pair, second-seeded D'Artagnan Potts & Jack Pearse, with five kill blocks and two aces from Huster, and then continued their Haikou winning streak with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) shutout of French qualifiers Joadel Genevieve-Gardoque & Elouan Chouikh-Barbez, with another four blocks and three aces from Huster.
Hodges & Schubert and Huster & Just will meet at 09:00 local time (01:00) UTC on Sunday morning. The other semifinal, between Dal Corso & Viscovich and Cory & Caldwell is scheduled for an hour later. The bronze medal match and the final are set to start at 13:00 (05:00) and 14:00 (06:00), respectively.
