Aydin, Turkey, May 17, 2019. On a partly cloudy day in Turkish seaside resort Aydin the men's top seeded teams Sven Winter and Alexander Walkenhorst (GER) and Dutch youngsters Jasper Bouter and Ruben Penninga won both of their matches, getting them straight into the quarterfinals of the Aydin Masters. They were joined by Italians Alex Ranghieri / Marco Caminati and Maciej Rudol and Jakub Szalankiewicz (POL). On the women's side, top seeds Mariia Bocharova and Maria Voronina had to concede pool victory to fellow Russians Ksenia Dabizha and Daria Rudykh. Greek Vasiliki Arvaniti and Panagiota Karagkouni and Ukrainian team Maryna Samoday and Diana Lunina also qualified for the last eight.
Russian surprise in Pool A, Greece and Ukraine win both of their matches.
The women's Group Stage started with Ksenia Dabizha / Daria Rudykh (RUS) facing Italian side Agata Zuccarelli / Gaia Traballi. The Russians showed that they were better prepared and beat the Italian team with a decisive 2-1 with sets of 21-13, 13-21, 15-10. After top seeds Mariia Bocharova and Maria Voronina (RUS) beat the Turkish duo of Merve Nezir and Bahanur Gokalp in their first Pool A match, the Russian teams went head-to-head for pool victory.
The eighth seeds Dabizha and Rudykh came out on top in two sets (26-24, 21-16), which secured them a place in Saturday's quarterfinals.
In Pool B Kaho Sakaguchi / Reika Murakami (JPN) faced the home team of Selin Yurtsever and Merve Celebi after both had lost their first pool matches in the morning. The Japanese side sailed to victory (21-19, 21-7), getting themselves into the Round of 12. The other Japanese team of Sayaka Mizoe and Suzuka Hashimoto set aside Canadians Marie-Christine Lapointe and Amanda Harnett for the top spot in Pool B.
Maryna Samoday and Diana Lunina (UKR) played against Aleyna Vence and Bugra Eryildiz (TUR) in a one sided affair. The Ukrainian team prepared better and played their controlled game style. The home team didn’t manage to adapt and lost the match 2-0 with sets of 15-21, 13-21.
Diana Lunina (UKR) on the attack against the Turkish team Vence/Eryildiz.
And further they are going, they managed to win Pool D by also beating the Canadian side of Taylor Pischke and Sophie Bukovec, giving them a ticket for the quarterfinals.
Third seeded Greeks Vasiliki Arvaniti and Panagiota Karagkouni are the last team to be through to the quarterfinals immediately. They showed a great performance and won their two matches in the group stage against Czech Republic's Michala Kvapilová / Michaela Kubickova and the Makhno twins Inna and Iryna from Ukraine, who will continue in Aydin in the Round of 12 on Saturday afternoon.
Top seeds in the men's draw Sven Winter and Alexander Walkenhorst from Germany weren't challenged too much in their morning affair against Turkish hopefuls Eren Kanli and Ali Cebeci, making their second match against Norway's Hendrik Nikolai Mol and Mathias Berntsen a winner-takes-it-all deal. After a fierce three set battle the Germans came out on top, doing their first seed status right.
Pool B featured the second seeds Jasper Bouter and Ruben Penninga from the Netherlands. They faced Austrians Tobias Winter / Julian Hörl and home team Mustafa Susam/Yusuf Ozdemir and the Dutch dominated the two matches. They qualified to the quarterfinals with two wins without losing a set.
Hasan Huseyin Mermer and Engin Özbek (TUR) faced Dirk Boehlé and Stefan Boermans (NED) and the Turkish duo was desperate to give their country the first win of the tournament. They fought valiantly and beat the Dutch team 2-1 with sets of 21-18, 11-21, 15-9. After their loss against Swedes David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig earlier that day, it meant that they will continue in the Round of 12 tomorrow.
After the match Özbek said: "It's an important win for us and for our country. So we fought even harder. It's a special feeling to get the first win of our nation here. We feel proud. Our aim is to finish this tournament in the top 3 and we believe we can do that. Aydin has the best spectators and crowd in all the cities and countries we played in."
Engin Özbek (TUR) after their important victory over Dutch side Boehlé/Boermans.
Selçuk Sekerci and Safa Urlu (TUR) played against Denys Denysenko and Vladyslav Iemelianchyk (UKR) to join their fellow countrymen in the Round of 12. The Ukrainian team came from the qualifiers so they had adjusted to environmental conditions better. This match was a sight to see. Ukraine lost the first set 18-21 but came back and won the second set 21-18 so the game went to a tiebreaker. Even in the tiebreaker it was back-and-forward all the time but the Turkish duo managed to close out the tiebreaker 23-21 for a 2-1 win overall in 58 minutes.
Polish Maciej Rudol and Jakub Szalankiewicz are through to the last eight teams after upsetting Finland's Jyrki Nurminen and Santeri Siren in the final Pool C match of Friday.
The last match of the men’s group stage was between Italy’s Alex Ranghieri and Marco Caminati and Swedish Åhman/Hellvig. The Italian team didn't disappoint and won the first set. In the second set Jonatan Hellvig got injured. He tried his best to play and managed to do but couldn’t continue, so the Swedish team had to forfeit the match. The Italian players helped Hellvig, a gold medal winner from the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, after the injury and it was a great exemplary behavior of fair play.
CEV will stream Sunday's matches in full, when the semi-finals and medal matches are at hand. EuroVolley.tv is the place to be.
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