Alanya, Turkey, July 14, 2017.  The four teams that went unbeaten through the first two rounds at the 2017 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Alanya Masters and qualified for the third round have become known. Among them are the two German pairs. They dominated on the sand at Cleopatra Beach and won their matches without losing a single set.
 
Fifth-seeded Sandra Ittlinger and Teresa Mersmann managed a 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) shutout of Austria’s Cornelia Rimser and Lena Plesiutschnig in the first round. Then they had to face Switzerland’s Nicole Eiholzer and Dunja Gerson who had upset the fourth-seeded Finns Ida Sinisalo and Niina Ahtiainen in the first round. The Germans were not impressed and continued their quest with a 2-0 (21-9, 21-12) win to advance to Saturday’s third round.

“Our toughest opponent here is the heat,” Sandra Ittlinger said after the match, but not before she and her teammate took a cool-off dip in the Mediterranean. “It feels like 50 degrees. We are so happy that we won two games today and we are already in the third round. We are so happy that we could go into the sea after our match – it feels so good! Now we want to win minimum two more matches. That’s the plan!”

“We are finished for today, so now we will have lunch, we will rest and sleep a little bit and then we will focus on our matches tomorrow,” Teresa Mersmann added. “We like it here. All the surroundings are pretty nice and people are very friendly and well organised. Everything is fine, but the heat. We enjoy being here.”



Ittlinger and Mersmann will face a serious challenge in the third round, where they will have to measure up against the top seeds of the main draw, Ukraine’s Valentyna Davidova and Ievgeniia Shchypkova. Davidova and Shchypkova also went through the first two rounds without dropping a set – 2-0 (21-19, 21-11) against Turkey’s Bugra Eryildiz and Merve Celebi and 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) against Spain’s Elsa Baquerizo McMillan and Paula Soria Gutiérrez.

The other German duo, third-seeded Kim Behrens and Anni Schumacher, cruised to a speedy 2-0 (21-12, 21-11) victory over Latvia’s Marta Ozolina and Alise Lece in the first round. Spaniards Amaranta Fernández Navarro and Angela Lobato Herrero put up more resistance in the second, but the Germans still managed to end it in straight sets – 2-0 (21-15, 23-21).

In the third round Behrens and Schumacher will face second-seeded Taru Lahti-Liukkonen and Anniina Parkkinen from Finland. The Finns made yesterday’s qualification heroes Katarzyna Kociolek and Dorota Strag from Poland suffer through yet another three-setter before closing a 2-1 (21-8, 21-23, 15-11) win. Then they spoiled the National Day celebrations for France’s Alexandra Jupiter and Ophélie Lusson handing them a 2-0 (21-19, 21-13) shutout.

Eight more teams are still alive in the losers’ bracket and will be opening the two competition courts for business on Saturday morning at 11:20 local time. Still hoping to get back into medal contention are the two pairs from Spain and one each from Austria, France, Italy, Latvia, Norway and Switzerland.

At the end of the competition day, a show match was played for the entertainment of the spectators. Alanya Mayor Murat Yücel and Turkey’s player Bugra Eryildiz pulled off a 21-8 win against Alanya Teleferik CEO Muhtar Kurt and the Russian Beach Volleyball and Snow Volleyball star Ksenia Khakimzanova.

Engage with the 2017 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Alanya Masters on social media by using the competition’s official hashtag #EuroBeachVolley.

Click here for more information on the Alanya Masters.