Two years after winning gold at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship with Sara Hughes and taking the United States back to the top of the podium after 14 years, Kelly Cheng returned to the tournament on Friday on a high.

The two-time Olympian played with new partner Molly Shaw on the first day of matches in Adelaide and frustrated the home fans by taking down one of the five Australian teams that compete for a medal, beating Jasmine Fleming and Stefanie Fejes 2-0 (21-19, 21-18).

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With that, the Americans were the first team to secure a victory in Pool G. The other two teams, Spanish Tania Moreno and Daniela Álvarez and Lithuanians Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte, will face each other later on Friday.

Cheng, 30, is making her fifth World Championship appearance this week in Adelaide - before winning gold in Tlaxcala two years ago, she was ninth in Vienna, in 2017, and Hamburg, in 2019, and 17th in Rome, in 2022. Her partner since the start of the 2025 season, the 29-year-old Shaw is competing among the top teams on the planet for the first time in her career.

Olympic champions start with a sweep

The reigning Olympic champions, Brazilians Eduarda 'Duda' Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos were Cheng and Hughes' opponents in the gold medal match in Mexico in 2023 and won the World Championship in 2022. Also among the candidates to fight for the top spot on the podium by the end of next week, they also faced an Australian duo in their opening match in Adelaide and were as dominant as Cheng and Shaw, beating Tara Phillips and Kayla Mears in straight sets (21-16, 21-19) in Pool F.

Only three pools have already completed their schedules in Adelaide on Friday. Pool A had FIVB World Ranking leaders and Brazilians Thamela Coradello and Victoria Lopes defeating Peruvians Claudia Gaona and Lisbeth Allcca in straight sets (21-19, 25-23) and Ukrainians Tetiana Lazarenko and Daria Romaniuk topping Paraguayans Michelle Valiente and Giuliana Poletti also in two sets (21-17, 21-15).

Pool I had victories of Americans Julin Donlin Lexy Denaburg, who swept (21-17, 21-13) New Zealanders Shaunna Polley and Olivia MacDonald, and Italians Valentina Gottardi and Reka Orsi Toth, who overcame Canadians Lea Monkhouse and Marie-Alex Bélanger 2-0 (21-18, 21-17).

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships: Match schedule & Results

Pool K had two pairs of sisters claiming the first victories, with the Swiss Anouk and Zoé Vergé-Dépré topping Dominicans Crismil Paniagua and Julibeth Payano 2-0 (21-14, 21-12) and the Austrians Dorina and Ronja Klinger triumphing over Australians Elizabeth Alchin and Georgia Johnson also in straight sets (21-16, 21-18).

With eight matches already in the books, ten more are set to take place before the end of the day in Adelaide.

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