The Round of 16 meeting between Latvia’s Tina Graudina/Anastasija Kravcenoka and USA’s Kelly Claes/Sarah Sponcil at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 4-star event in Gstaad on Friday carried more weight than any other match in the same stage of the tournament in the Swiss Alps.
Latvians win Olympic preview in Gstaad
Graudina and Kravcenoka topple Americans Claes and Sponcil to make it to the quarterfinals
Published 03:58, 09 Jul 2021
That’s because the two teams are set to meet in about two weeks in Tokyo, during the Olympic Games, after they were both put into the the same pool last Monday. This time the Latvians were the ones to leave the court smiling as they downed the Americans, who had won the last two World Tour events they played at, with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-14) victory.
“Every time we go on the court, the goal is to play our best game,” Graudina explained. “We didn’t hold anything back and we’ll certainly do the same the next time we meet because it’s going to be a very important match and we’ll need to play our best again. This is already our best finish here in Gstaad and we feel great.”
Latvians and Americans will meet again shortly in Tokyo
It was the second two-set victory for the Latvians over the Americans in two World Tour meetings involving the teams. This is a result that should give Graudina and Kravcenoka a confidence boost ahead of the Olympics, but they aren’t really thinking about it right now.
“We’re trying to focus on the present and leave Tokyo for the next few days, we know it’s going to be a different story there,” Kravcenoka added. “Gstaad is such a nice place to be that we always want to stay as long as we can. The landscape here is awesome and we really enjoy coming here every year.”
The 2019 European champions will now meet Kinga Wojtasik and Katarzyna Kociolek in the quarterfinals. The Polish eliminated Germans Julia Sude and Karla Borger with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) Round of 16 win.
Two quarterfinal meetings in Gstaad will put teams from Brazil and Canada face to face. One of them will reunite qualifiers Carolina Salgado and Barbara Seixas, who upset Russians Nadezda Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina in straight sets (21-15, 21-14), and 2018 Gstaad champions Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes, who knocked Germans Laura Ludwig and Margareta Kozuch out also with a 2-0 (21-14, 22-20) victory.
The other one will see Ana Patricia Ramos and Rebecca Cavalcanti, who came from behind to beat Dutch Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink 2-1 (18-21, 21-19, 15-5), take on Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson, who fought the home team of Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre and the centre court’s crowd to pull a 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) victory.
“It was the first time in a while that we played in front of a crowd and it was so fun,” Bansley said. “It was awesome to have some energy even though they weren’t cheering for us. Tokyo is coming closer but we’re very focused on doing our best here.”
Brazil will have a third team in the quarterfinals after Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa eliminated compatriots Talita Antunes with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) triumph. They will face the last Swiss team standing - Nina Betschart and Tanja Huberli - who moved on after their straight-set (21-15, 21-15) victory over Australians Mariafe Artacho and Taliqua Clancy.
Saturday’s schedule for the women in Gstaad features only the quarterfinals. The semifinals and medal matches in the Swiss Alps will take place on Sunday.
