Miguel Pereira, Brazil, August 10, 2019 – Renato Andrew Lima de Carvalho & Rafael Andrew Lima de Carvalho will take on Arthur Diego Mariano Lanci & Adrielson Dos Santos Silva in the all-Brazilian men’s final of the Miguel Pereira one-star stop on the 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, set to get underway at 14:00 local time on Sunday. This will be the second time these two pairs will meet in the tournament, after Renato & Rafael claimed a three-set win over Arthur & Adrielson in Friday’s pool stage.
19-year-old twins Renato & Rafael, reigning U21 world champions, started their day directly from the quarterfinal stage of the main draw, claiming a 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) victory over Venezuela’s Jesus Villafanye & Jackson Henriquez. In the previous round, Fanye & Henriquez became the only non-Brazilian pair to have dared into defeating one of the home teams in the entire men’s tournament - 2-0 (21-17, 21-18) over Averaldo Pereira Da Silva & Bruno De Paula.
Brazil’s Renato & Rafael against Venezuela’s Fanye & Henriquez in a Miguel Pereira quarterfinal
In their semifinal match, fifth-seeded Renato & Rafael powered through to a 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) win over one of the Brazilian wild cards, Hevaldo Sabino Moreira & Vinicius Rezende Costa Freitas.
“It was a tough match, mainly because Hevaldo & Vinicius are two experienced athletes, with great accomplishments at the national circuit. In the second set, I made some mistakes, but Rafael took control and we won,” commented Renato, who is also 2017 U21 world champion and 2016 U19 world champion.
“All I did was remind Renato what a giant he is and then he got back on track with five rockets in a row. When one of us is not doing well, the other helps with positive energy and that’s how we won,” Rafael added.
After losing to Renato & Rafael in the Pool D tie-breaker, fourth-seeded Arthur & Adrielson had to start their knockout stage campaign from the first round, where they took a 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) win over fellow Brazilians Harley Marques Silva & Luciano Ferreira de Paula, seeded third. In the quarterfinals, Adrielson, who partnered with Renato in winning the 2017 U21 World Championship title, and his current partner Arthur, himself a two-time gold medallist from age-category World Championships, cruised to a 2-0 (21-16, 21-15) victory over another home pair, wild cards Matheus Maia Terra de Faria & Eduardo Davi Marinho da Rocha.
In the semifinals, Arthur & Adrielson managed yet another straight-set win of an all-Brazilian encounter, a 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) upset of top-seeded Joalisson Laurindo Gomes & Leonardo Gomes Vieira.
Sunday’s bronze medal match between Hevaldo & Vinicius and Jo & Leonardo is set to start at 11:00 local time. Three hours later, Renato & Rafael and Arthur & Adrielson will take to the sand in the battle for gold. Both games will be streamed live on the FIVB YouTube channel.
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