13/10/2017 21:50
Teams from France and Russia make their mark at CEV-EEVZA Satellite in Baku
2017 CEV-EEVZA Beach Volleyball Satellite - Baku
Baku, Azerbaijan, October 13, 2017. On Friday, the CEV-EEVZA Beach Volleyball Satellite in Baku started with matches on schedule for Round 3 of the winners’ bracket. After a rainy morning, the weather conditions improved during the day and the spectators witnessed some interesting matches, with three teams from France and just as many from Russia eventually progressing to the semi-finals.
In the women’s Main Draw, the favourites had a fairly easy day – a victory in the third round secured a spot in the semis for Tjasa Kotnik/Tjasa Jancar of Slovenia and Russia’s Maria Voronina/Mariia Bocharova, the reigning U18 and U20 European champions.
Frances’s Alexandra Jupiter/Ophélie Lusson and Germany’s Lisa Arnholdt/Sarah Schneider lost their matches in Round 3, but still had the chance of staying ‘alive’ in the competition via the losers’ bracket. Jupiter and Lusson were not able to do so after losing to their compatriots Lézana Placette/Aline Chamereau at the end of a tough and dramatic match. Placette and Chamereau emerged victorious at the tiebreak (19-21, 21-17, 15-13). Later in the afternoon, another French team progressed to the semis as Alexia Richard/Margaux Carrere beat Arnholdt/Schneider 2-1 (18-21, 21-12, 15-9) as well.
As for the men’s tournament, Russia’s Alexander Likholetov/Ilya Leshukov beat Latvia’s Rihards Finsters/Aleksandrs Solovejs in three sets (17-21, 21-19, 15-13) to make it straight to the semis. The second match of the third round was a French derby. Top-seeds Maxime Thiercy/Arnaud Gauthier-Rat celebrated a 2-1 victory over Olivier Barthelemy/Romain Di Giantommaso (21-15, 20-22, 15-13).
Barthelemy/Di Giantommaso continued to fight through the losers’ bracket and still had a chance of booking a ticket to the semi-finals. However, they could not take a single set against their next opponents, and as a result, Maksim Khudyakov/Ruslan Bykanov of Russia made it among the top four. Finsters/Solovejs beat Nejc Zemljak/Vid Jakopin from Slovenia 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) to secure their spot in the semis as well.
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