Chinese pairs deliver day’s shockers in Tokyo

The two Chinese pairs delivered the big upsets of the day in the women’s beach volleyball tournament at Tokyo 2020. One of the two pairs, Fan Wang and Xinyi Xia, and USA’s April Ross and Alix Klineman booked their spots in the Round of 16.

Chen Xue and Xinxin Wang, last-minute Olympic qualifiers from Asia’s Continental Cup, went up against Dutch stars Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink in a Pool B second-leg game on Tuesday. With both sides on the losing end of their first-leg matches, they battled it out as some great defence from both teams produced three sets full of spectacular rallies. The Chinese pair came out from narrowly losing the first set and saving as many as six match points in the second to level the score deep into the overtime. They eventually edged forward in the tie-breaker to celebrate a 2-1 (19-21, 31-29, 15-13) victory after an hour and six minutes on the court.

“We are a little bit surprised ourselves,” Chen Xue told Volleyball World. “They’re a great team and very successful on the World Tour. We watched a lot of videos of them. What was most important today is that even if they gave us a lot of pressure, we stood our ground. Our patience is what made the difference in the end. We knew it was going to be a hard game. We were prepared for three sets and just took it one point at a time.”

In their last pool match, Xue and Wang will take on Spain’s Liliana Fernаndez and Elsa Baquerizo in a direct battle for a spot among the top two in the standings. Earlier in Tuesday's matches, USA’s April Ross and Alix Klineman mastered a 2-0 (21-13, 21-16) victory over the Spanish pair, their second win of the tournament, which booked them a spot in the Round of 16. It is the American duo Keizer and Meppelink will have to beat on Friday for a chance to stay in the competition.

“They've given us a hard time in the past, so just to have our game plan go smoothly is awesome,” Alix said. “We came out with a lot of intensity, a lot of energy and we did things pretty well. We're really happy with that.”

Tuesday’s match programme concluded with the Pool C encounter between Fan Wang and Xinyi Xia and FIVB World Ranking leaders Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda Santos Lisboa of Brazil. The Chinese team declined to accept the underdog role in the match and confidently prevailed over the Brazilian stars on the way to a solid 2-0 (21-18, 21-14) victory.

This was Wang and Xia’s second upset in the pool after defeating Canada’s Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson in the first leg, and stamped their ticket to the knockout stage. Bansley and Brandie recovered with a 2-0 (22-20, 21-12) win over Argentina’s Ana Gallay and Fernanda Pereyra. The duos from Canada and Brazil, each on a 1-1 win-loss record, will have to settle the remaining spot among the top two in the pool in a direct duel when they meet on Thursday.

Quick links:
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - Schedule and results
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - Beach volleyball
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour
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