For a match that featured three Olympic medallists and world champions on the court, the meeting between Brazilians Alison Cerutti and Alvaro Filho and Dutch pair Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen in the Round of 16 of the third FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 4-star event in the Cancun Hub certainly lived up to expectations.
In what was arguably the most exciting match of the second day of the men’s main draw at Playa Delfines,the Brazilians, who won bronze last week in the second tournament in Mexico, avoided multiple match points for their opponents in both the second and third sets to win 2-1 (16-21, 22-20, 20-18) and make it to the quarterfinals.
“Against this team, it’s always going to be like this,” Alison commented. “I was just trying to keep my side out steady and to help Alvaro do what he does. He was fantastic in the most important moments and that's the player I want him to be. The key was remaining focused at the end of each set. We felt they were under pressure and we tried to explore that as much as we could."
Alvaro and Alison celebrate a point against the DutchThe Brazilians will now face Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan, the silver medallists of the first two tournaments in Cancun, who eliminated another Dutch team from the event with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-18) victory against Christiaan Varenhorst and Steven van de Velde.
Another thrilling three-set match in the Round of 16 reunited two American teams and saw Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb defeat Jake Gibb and Taylor Crabb 2-1 (26-28, 21-19, 15-13) to make it to the quarterfinals. They will now play Russians Konstantin Semenov and Illya Leshukov, who knocked the home team of Josue Gaxiola and Jose Rubio out of the tournament with a 2-1 (21-16, 18-21, 15-11) triumph.
Tri Bourne celebrates as his team win three matches in the dayThe United States will have two teams in the quarterfinals as veterans Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena also advanced. The Olympians took down Brazilians Andre Loyola and George Wanderley 2-0 (22-20, 21-18) and will now meet Dutch qualifiers Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot, who eliminated USA's Chaim Schalk and Theo Brunner with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) win.
The fourth and last quarterfinal matchup will reunite Polish pair Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak, who eliminated Latvia's Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins with a 2-0 (22-20, 21-15) win, and Italians Adrian Carambula and Enrico Rossi, who prevailed over Germany's Nils Ehlers/Lars Fluggen in three sets (21-18, 19-21, 15-13).
Kantor avoids Samoilovs' block as Poland advance to the quarterfinalsSaturday's schedule in Cancun features the quarterfinal and semifinal matches. The medal matches will take place on Sunday, the final day of the event in Mexico.
The finals 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 - 3rd event
Cancun Hub - 3rd event - Match schedule
Provisional Olympic ranking - Men
Provisional Olympic ranking - Women
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