The gold medal match in Tlaxcala will be the tie-breaker between the countries when it comes to World Championships finals as each nation has won three of the previous six encounters and also between the two duos, which are even with two triumphs in their four international duels to date. The last final involving South Americans and North Americans was in 2011, when Juliana Felisberta and Larissa França defeated Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor in Rome.
Brazil, with 17 medals (six golds, five silver and six bronze), and the United States, with 11 (four golds, five silver and two bronze), are the top medal-winners among the women at the World Championships. In each of the 14 editions of the event, there was at least one team from one of the two countries at the podium and only once, in 2013, no Brazilians or Americans played in the final.
The all-American semifinal in Tlaxcala was a match full of ups and downs and turnarounds. Cheng and Hughes, who had lost a match in pool play in Mexico, took down the then-undefeated Kloth and Nuss in the tie-breaker (18-21, 21-12, 15-13) to move forward.
“With them, we go into every single match knowing that it’s going to be a dog fight,” Cheng reacted. “They’re an amazing team, but I think we just brought so much fire. I think they snuck that first set because of our errors. Coming back to the second set, we still wanted to be aggressive, but also do hold back a little bit on our unforced errors. Sara did an amazing job pushing me out there and encouraging me to stay up against Kristen. It’s just such a team win and I’m so proud.”
