Xiamen, China, October 8, 2014 – Youseff Krou and
Edouard Rowlandson from France triumphed in two tough matches on the first day
of pool play at the $150,000 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Xiamen Open
on Wednesday. This is the third visit to China for the 2014 FIVB World Tour and
the second consecutive year the tour has been to Xiamen.
Krou/Rowlandson fought hard to top Pool E on the first
day of the men’s main draw. Their morning match saw the Frenchmen up against
fellow compatriots Yannick Salvetti and Jean-Baptiste Daguerre in what turned
into a heated affair.
Krou/Rowlandson began well securing the first set
21-15, before Salvetti/Daguerre turned up the pace taking the match into a
third set. Krou/Rowlandson dug deep to secure their first pool win 2-1 (21-15, 20-22, 15-10).
“It was a rough
day because we played early against our French partners. It was a tense game
and we knew that they would never give us the game so we had to focus and that’s
what we did in the end to win it,” said Krou.
Krou/Rowlandson second match was another tight clash
against Spain’s Francisco Tomás and César Menéndez Ortego. Krou/Rowlandson
found their confidence in the first set winning a run of points to take the set
21-14, but the second set proved more of a challenge. Tomás/Menéndez pulled out
an impressive performance in the second fighting every single point. With the
score at 19-19, Krou/Rowlandson missed out on two match points before closing the match 2-0 (21-14, 23-21).
“Playing the Spanish team in the second match was
important to concentrate on our game. To win this 2-0 is a really good job for
us because we have another game tomorrow morning against Germany, so we’re
going to feel pretty confident for the rest of the tournament,” said
Rowlandson.
The breezy
conditions on Xiamen’s Guanyinshan Gold Beach did little to distract Krou/Rowlandson’s who
have been playing together since the beginning of the 2014 season.
“It’s very windy of course, but we’re been training
here for three days so we’ve been able to prepare ourselves for these
conditions so we are coping well with these conditions I think,” said
Rowlandson.
“We have a kind of game which is not so high, so with
or without wind for us it’s quite OK,” said Krou.
“We play quite hard and fast balls which don’t take the
wind, so for us it doesn’t really make an enormous difference,” said
Rowlandson.
Brunner/Mayer
top Pool C
USA’s Theodore Brunner and John Mayer top Pool C with
two smooth performances for two straight set wins in Xiamen. The American pair
spent only 57 minutes on court on day one of pool play and the wins place them in a
favourable position for their final pool match against China’s Wu Jiaxin and
Yang Cong on Thursday.
In their second match of the day Brunner/Mayer met Israel’s
Sean Faiga and Ariel Hilman. Faiga/Hillman showed strength in the first set, but Brunner/Mayer’s
experience quickly shone and the US pair took the match 2-0 (21-16, 21-9).
“We knew it was a good team and these conditions are
tough, so it felt like we played pretty well,” said Mayer.
“Our aim is to
win the pool and go from there so we’re in a good spot to do that,” said
Brunner.
“This match actually wasn’t that bad in terms of the
wind, but it’s tough, it’s just a different style of volleyball and luckily I
think we’re both pretty well suited to it. It’s all about ball control and not
making mistakes.”
Faiga/Hilman finish the day just behind Brunner/Mayer
in Pool C after defeating higher seeded Chinese pair Wu Jiaxin and Yang Cong 2-0
(21-10, 21-12).
Earlier in the day Brunner/Mayer met Japanese
qualifiers Keisuke Shimizu and Junki Hatabe in their first ever international
competition. Shimizu/Hatabe’s debut performance won the respect of their
competitors despite losing 2-0
(21-9, 21-12).
“They’re good little players. The defender had an
amazing dig, they are impressive and fun to watch,” said Mayer.
Chinese
upset
China’s top qualifiers Ha Likejiang and Bao Jian took favourites
Volkan Gögtepe
and Murat Giginoglu from Turkey by surprise on centre court. With the help of
the Chinese crowds they beat the Turkish pair 2-0 (21-17, 21-19). An early loss
to Austria’s Thomas Kunert and Christoph Dressler 2-1 (18-21, 21-18, 19-17) still places
HaLikejiang/Bao J. at the top of Pool B to finish the day.
With the Grand Slam portion of the 2014 FIVB World Tour
now complete, the tour continues after Xiamen with four double-gender FIVB Open
events along with one men-only FIVB Open tournament. The tour will travel to Argentina for the FIVB
Parana Open (Oct. 28-Nov. 2) before heading to Doha for the men-only FIVB Qatar
Open (Nov. 4-8). India will then host the double-gender FIVB Vizag Open (Nov.
25-30), before the 2014 calendar comes to a close in South Africa with the
double-gender FIVB Mangaung Open (Dec. 9-14).