18/05/2018 09:00
Qualification round completed at 1-Star event in Aydin
2018 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Aydin
Aydin, Turkey, May 17, 2018. The 1-Star event Aydin Open started on Thursday in Turkey with the qualification round where four teams per gender secured their spot in the Main Draw of the tournament. The weather conditions were just ideal with temperatures up to 35 °C and a mild breeze welcoming the players contesting the event.
Teams from Italy, Denmark and Sweden through to women’s Main Draw
The women were the first ones to take to the court with eight matches scheduled for the first round of qualifications. Tadva Yoken/Sigrid Simonsson of Sweden beat Turkey’s Hatice Can Tonbul/Yaren Cakmak 21-16, 21-12 as Russia’s Ekaterina Filina/Mariia Kontorskaia recorded a 21-18, 21-16 victory over Mexime van Driel and Flore Gravesteijn of the Netherlands.
Germany’s Leonie Klinke and Lisa-Sophie Kotzan stamped a 21-15, 21-18 victory in their matchup with Ukraine’s Diana Lunina and Anastasia Lysenko, where Lunina asked for a medical timeout by the score of 17-17 in the second set. “This is a lovely city and we feel ready to play with this kind of weather,” Klinke said after the match. “We just played our game and eventually managed to secure a victory.”
In the other matches scheduled for the first round, Italy’s Claudia Puccinelli/Gaia Traballi comfortably beat Finland’s Aliisa Vuorinen/Valma Prihti 21-7, 21-13, Switzerland’s Kim Huber/Tatjana Greber stamped a 21-19, 21-19 win against Russia’s Elena Sviridova/Irina Frolova and Austria’s Ronja Klinger/Valerie Teufl stormed to a 21-19, 21-8 win over Finland’s Nette Tuominen and Ida Sinisalo. In a Scandinavian derby, Denmark’s Line Trans Hansen/Maria Elisabeth Tyndeskov beat Sweden’s Jenny Strålman/Elisa Niederhaus 21-10, 21-11 and Italy’s Silvia Costantini/Agata Zuccarelli easily routed Hungary’s Eszter Lutter/Szandra Szombathelyi 21-11, 21-10 after leading from start to end.
Claudia Puccinelli/Gaia Traballi of Italy in action during the second round of qualifications in Aydin vs. Ronja Klinger and Valerie Teufl of Austria
Costantini/Zuccarelli eventually secured their spot in the Main Draw with a solid 21-15, 22-20, victory over Klinke/Kotzan. Yoken/Simonsson made it to the next stage of the tournament as well after their 21-9, 21-13 compelling victory over Filina/Kontorskaia. “It is a great feeling to qualify for the Main Draw. The weather was hot, but we have been training in Izmir and spent some time in Asia before coming here, so we were used to it,” Yoken commented. “We are happy with being here and enjoyed the support from the crowd. Many thanks to all those who are coming to watch the tournament for their support.”
A second Italian tandem, Puccinelli/Traballi, progressed to the Main Draw after their 17-21, 21-14, 15-7 win in the matchup with Klinger/Teufl. They came from behind to emerge victorious from the only three-set match of the day, with the game ending right at 8 pm. Trans Hansen and Tyndeskov were the last qualifiers for the Main Draw following their hard-fought 23-21, 21-18 win over Huber/Greber.
Teams from Serbia, Sweden, Poland and Spain progress to men’s Main Draw
The men’s qualifiers started later in the day compared to the women’s tournament, with temperatures rising to 35 °C. Martin Tichy and Jindrich Weiss (CZE) beat Russia’s Pavel Shustrov and Alexey Gusev 21-14, 21-18. Serbia’s Stefan Basta and Lazar Kolaric, despite claiming a landslide 21-9 win in the first set of their match with Egypt’s underdogs Abdelrahman Fayed and Ahmed Famy Farag, had to fight hard but yet lost the second set 20-22. Basta and Kolaric regrouped for the tiebreak where they scored four points in a row to seal their victory at 15-11. “We are very happy with this victory,” Kolaric said. “The expectations are very high but 35 degrees is not easy to adjust to and we had problems with the weather conditions. We need to focus and play better.”
Raul Mesa and Christian Garcia of Spain secured on Thursday night their ticket to the Main Draw of the 1-Star event in Aydin
Poland’s Mateusz Lysikowski and Mateusz Paszkowski easily beat England’s Luis Bello/Joaquin Bello 21-15, 21-12 as Austria’s Olympian Alexander Huber and partner Simon Baldauf stormed to a 22-20, 21-14 victory over Japan’s Yoshiumi Hasegawa/Keisuke Shimizu. Spain’s Raul Mesa and Christian Garcia beat Turkey’s Burak Balibey/Akay Calik 21-9, 21-10 before Austria’s Felix Friedl and Maximilian Trummer had the upper hand in a closely contested matchup with Croatia’s Josip Pribanic/Martin Jercic (21-16, 19-21, 15-12). Switzerland’s Michiel Zandbergen and Gabriel Kissling stormed to a compelling 21-10, 21-8 victory over Turkey’s Dogukan Ulu/Dundar Yildirim and in the last match of the first round Jakob Molin/Linus Tholse won the Swedish derby with Alexander Annerstedt/Alexander Herrmann 21-18, 21-16.
After their tough match with the Egyptians, Basta and Kolaric were the first team to progress to the Main Draw following a 21-19, 21-16 win in the game with Weiss/Tichy. Lysikowski and Paszkowski achieved the same feat after beating Huber/Baldauf 21-18, 21-16. “Aydin is a great city and we like the place. Tonight the weather was cooler than earlier today and this helped us a lot because we played our first match with 35 degrees and under the sun,” Mateusz Paszkowski (pictured above) said. “We focussed on our game and in the end we were the better team. For my partner it will be the first appearance in the Main Draw of a World Tour event, so we feel excited and we think we can finish among the top three.”
Mesa/Garcia and Molin/Tholse were the last two teams to progress to the Main Draw. The Spaniards beat Friedl/Trummer 21-18, 22-20 coming back from a 16-19 deficit in the second set. Molin/Tholse played three sets with Zandbergen/Kissling but eventually emerged victorious 21-19, 16-21, 15-8.
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