Lupo & Nicolai in rhythm for Cancun quarterfinals

Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo will head back home after the conclusion of the second FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 4-star event of the Cancun Hub, but if the Italians made the trip to Mexico aiming to get some competition with the best teams in the world ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, they certainly accomplished their goal.

The silver medallists of the Rio 2016 Olympics played four teams inside the top 20 of the FIVB World Ranking over the last two days and, after defeating three of them consecutively, secured their spot in the quarterfinals of the tournament played at the Playa Delfines on Saturday.

The day started for the Italians with a meeting against Polish pair Grzegorz Fijalel and Michal Bryl, ranked sixth in the world, which they won 2-0 (21-18, 21-18). Later, they repeated the two-set (21-15, 22-20) victory against Latvians Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins, currently the 17th best team in the world.

On Friday, Lupo and Nicolai had played two American teams which are also both within the top 20 in fifth-placed Jake Gibb and Taylor Crabb and 14th-placed Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb.

“It’s been a good tournament for us,” Nicolai said. “We wanted to play and see where our game is and get in a better rhythm before the Olympics. I feel like we still have some ups and downs during matches, but we’re getting better, I saw some good progress from yesterday to today. And the match with the Latvians shows that. They had eliminated us in the first two tournaments of the season. So for us to beat them today, I take it as a step forward.”

The reason that will make the Italians, who are already qualified for their third Olympics, skip the last tournament of the Cancun Hub is a good one. With the birth of his first daughter Anna set to take place on May 3, the 32-year-old Nicolai can’t wait to get back home and live a special moment in his life alongside his wife Sara.

“It hasn’t been easy for me to be here in Mexico,” he added. “It’s a very important moment of our lives and I’d love to be with my wife and enjoy it as much as I can, but it’s work and I’m doing this for them. We communicate as much as possible so I can feel closer and that gives me motivation too because I want to leave Mexico feeling the trip was worth it.”

Before they leave Cancun, however, Lupo and Nicolai will play Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan in the quarterfinals. The pair, who took silver in the first tournament in Mexico, knocked Swiss team Mirco Gerson and Adrian Heidrich out of the event with a 2-1 (21-16, 19-21, 15-8) victory in the Round of 16.

World ranking leaders Anders Mol and Christian Sorum have also advanced to the quarterfinals after they defeated Americans Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb 2-0 (21-19, 21-19). The Norwegians' opponents will be Polish qualifiers Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak, who eliminated Brazilians Andre Loyola and George Wanderley with a 2-0 (21-17, 22-20) triumph.

Brazil will be represented in the quarterfinals by Alison Cerutti and Alvaro Filho, who eliminated Russians Konstantin Semenov and Ilya Leshukov with a hard-fought, 2-1 (21-14, 18-21, 22-20) win. They will meet Dutch pair Christiaan Varenhorst and Steven van de Velde, who prevailed in two sets (21-13, 26-24) over American veterans Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena.

Another Dutch team will be in Sunday’s quarterfinals as qualifiers Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Grot continued their run in Cancun with a 2-0 (21-14, 26-24) win over Poland’s Maciej Rudol and Jakuk Szalankiewicz. They will face Italians Adrian Carambula and Enrico Rossi, who dominated Canadians Ben Saxton and Grant O’Gorman to secure a 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) victory.

Elimination matches in Cancun are streamed live on the Beach Volleyball World Youtube channel. Subscribe, log in and set reminders to receive notifications when streams begin.

Go to:
Cancun Hub - 2nd event
Cancun Hub - 2nd event - Match schedule
Provisional Olympic ranking - Men
Provisional Olympic ranking - Women

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