Aydin, Turkey, May 16, 2019. The 2-Star World Tour event Aydin Masters started on Thursday in Turkey with the qualification round where four teams per gender secured their spots in the main draw of the tournament. The weather conditions were outstanding with temperatures up to 35 °C and a mild breeze welcoming the players contesting the event.
Teams from Netherlands, Ukraine, Norway and Belarus through to men’s Main Draw
The men were the first ones to take to court with 16 matches scheduled for the round of qualifications. Aliaksandr Dziadkou / Pavel Piatrushka (BLR) beat Czech Republic’s Filip Habr and David Lenc 2-0 (21-16, 21-14) to qualify to the main draw. Dutchmen Dirk Boehlé and Stefan Boermans despite claiming a 21-18 win in the first set of their match with Latvian Matiss Gabdullins / Mihails Samoilovs had to fight hard but yet lost the second set 15-21. Boehlé and Boermans regrouped for the tiebreak to seal their victory with 16-14.
“We are very happy with this victory,” Boermans 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 tomorrow.”
Stefan Boermans (NED) setting the ball
Norway’s Hendrik Nikolai Mol and Mathias Berntsen beat Estonian Dimitriy Korotkov / Mart Tiisaar duo 15-21, 22-20, 15-12 as Ukranian number 8 seeds Denys Denysenko and partner Vladyslav Iemelianchyk battled to a 18-21, 21-19, 15-10 victory over Iran’s qualification top seeds Bahman Salemiinjehboroun / Arash Vakili.
“Aydin is a great city and we like the place. 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,” Iemelianchyk said. “We focussed on our game and in the end we were the better team.”
Vladyslav Iemelianchyk (UKR) chased the ball down for a one-handed save.
Russian and Ukrainian teams progress to women’s Main Draw
The women’s qualifiers started later in the day compared to the men’s tournament. Russian no.1 seeds Ksenia Dabizha / Daria Rudykh easily won against Ieva Dumbauskaite/Irina Zobnina (LTU) in 2 sets with 21-16, 21-14 and qualified to the main draw. "We are happy to have qualified for the main draw. We hope we get a good result in the main draw matches," they said happily.
Russia’s Alexandra Moiseeva and Ekaterina Syrtseva beat Polish Martyna Kloda / Agata Ceynowa 19-21, 21-19, 27-25 coming back from a 18-19 deficit in the second set. Ukranian twin sisters Inna and Iryna Makhno played three sets againt Greece's Konstantina Tsopoulou / Dimitra Manavi, but eventually emerged victorious in a tiebreak (21-17, 19-21, 16-14).
The Makhno sisters were last to progress to the main draw. Previously, another Ukrainian team, Maryna Samoday and Diana Lunina ran to a 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) victory in their matchup with Swiss Esmée Böbner / Zoé Vergé-Dépré.
“This is a lovely city and we feel ready to play with this kind of weather,” Diana Lunina said after the match. “We just played our game and eventually managed to secure a victory.”
Diana Lunina (UKR, 1) shotting past the Swiss block of Esmée Böbner.
Sunday's semi-final and medal matches will be streamed LIVE on our video platform EuroVolley.tv, giving fans the opportunity to follow their stars as they play for the top spot in the Aydin FIVB 2-Star World Tour Event.
For further information, click here.