Rome, Italy, September 7, 2019 - Two women's teams from beach volleyball power Brazil have advanced to the semifinals at the $600,000 FIVB World Tour Finals after winning mid-day matches here Saturday along with European pairs from Germany and Switzerland at the Foro Italico.
Led by fourth-seeded Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda "Duda" Lisboa of Brazil, the defending FIVB World Tour Finals champions, the four teams will be competing for the $40,000 first-place prize Sunday evening along with the 1,200 Olympic qualifying points for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games.
To set the field for Sunday's medal matches, Agatha and Duda will meet sixth-seeded Brazilian rivals Rebecca Cavalcanti/Ana Patricia Silva in Saturday's first women’s semifinal at 6:05 p.m. (local time) followed by a 7:20 match pitting 10th-seeded Joana Heidrich/Anouk Verge-Depre of Switzerland against 20th-seeded Margareta Kozuch/Laura Ludwig of Germany.
While the Brazilians will be playing each other for the fifth-time on the FIVB World Tour with each winning twice, Heidrich and Verge-Depre will be meeting the Germans for the first-time on the international circuit.
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Rebecca and Ana Patricia advanced to the semifinals by defeating 22nd-seeded Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) in a 39-minute quarter-final match.
Agatha and Duda gained a spot in the final four by eliminating top-seeded and reigning world champions Melissa Humana-Paredes/Sarah Pavan of Canada with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-14) victory in 37 minutes.
Heidrich and Verge-Depre secured a spot in the semifinals with a 2-1 (17-21, 21-13, 15-10) victory in 52 minutes over 19th-seeded Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez of Spain while Kozuch and Laura Ludwig rallied to defeat 21st-seeded Fan Wang/Xinyi Xia of China 2-1 (20-22, 21-13, 18-16) in 52 minutes.