Xiamen, China, October 10, 2014 – Martina Bonnerová and
Barbora Hermannová from Czech Republic upset top seeds Juliana Felisberta Silva
and Maria Antonelli from Brazil winning 2-0
(21-13, 27-25) in their final pool match at the $150,000 2014 FIVB Beach
Volleyball World Tour Xiamen Open. This is the third visit to China for the
2014 FIVB World Tour and the second consecutive year the tour has been to
Xiamen.
Bonnerova/Hermannova began the day sitting just behind Juliana/Antonelli
in Pool B with two wins each. The teams then faced each other in the pool
decider with both pairs eager to win and earn a bye into round two knock-outs.
As the first set progressed the match began to attract
the attention of more and more spectators on Xiamen’s Guanyinshan
Gold Beach as the Czech pair began to take control. Under hot and
windy conditions Bonnerova/Hermannova kept their cool to confidently take the
first set.
Juliana/Antonelli had taken their time to find their
game in the previous days’ pool match against Spain’s Angela Lobato Herrero and
Paula Soria Gutiérrez, losing the first set 21-23, before pulling back the
match to win 2-1 (21-23, 21-14,
15-13).
The Brazilians showed a similar trend in the second set
utilising their power and experience to give the Czech girls a hard time. But
for each powerful serve and athletic attack, Bonnerova/Hermannova gave exactly
the same back, taking the win 2-0
(21-13, 27-25) and earning the rest of the day off.
“We are really feeling great because we have already
played two times with them, both times with tie break and quite close. Now we
wanted to finally win and in this big wind our serve worked against them so it
was great,” said Hermannová.
“It feels really great to win against such a good team,
number one of this tournament so it’s amazing for us that we made it,” said Bonnerová.
Bonnerova/Hermannova just missed out on the final four
at the FIVB Anapa Open this year in their best ever World Tour performance.
“We said that we wanted to be top ten of better in this
tournament so we will for sure try to win again and make some good success and
results,” said Bonnerová
The wind has proved a challenge to all the competitors
in Xiamen and each team has found their own way to adapt.
“We played mostly just close and not too high setting
because in this wind it’s not possible. The most important is the serving as it’s
really hard to receive it when someone has a good service,” said Bonnerová.
“In Czech there is no wind so we had to change our game
totally,” said Hermannová.
Juliana/Antonelli also progress through to round two
knock-outs on Saturday after beating China’s Lin Meimei and Tang Ningya in
round one, 2-0 (21-17, 21-17).
Gallay/Klug
aim for first ever final four
Argentina’s Ana Gallay and Georgina Klug are in fine
form in Xiamen earning three straight wins and topping Pool C to enter directly into round two. Their third pool victory came against Russia’s Yulia
Abalakina and Ksenia Dabizha in the heat of day.
After closing the first set 21-17, Gallay/Klug began to
let the second set slip as Abalakina/Dabizha gave little away. The Argentinians
were visibly more determined in the third set and ended the match quickly 2-1
(21-17, 16-21, 15-6).
“In the third set we came in with all our energy and
focus to win and being first in the pool and thought only about this,” said Gallay.
“It was hot and windy and the Russian team played
really well. We are really happy because it was a tough match and we had a
really hard second set. It was really important for us to finish first in the pool
in this tournament so we did it and we are really proud of ourselves,” said
Klug.
Gallay/Klug have finished ninth in four FIVB Grand
Slams in 2014. They finished fifth in the Puerto Vallarta Open and Fuzhou
Open this year, but have yet to make it to an FIVB final four. The Argentinians
have also posted some of their best results in Asia.
“We only want to win tomorrow, we don’t care who we
have to play against but we really want to win and we are dreaming of a
semifinal this tournament. We have never
been in a semifinal on the world tour so we are really dreaming of a medal,”
said Klug.
“We feel like we always talk about that since we
started last year. We had good results playing in China and also in Thailand
last year so Asia is good for us,” said Klug.
The FIVB Xiamen
Open women’s medals winners will be decided on Sunday.
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).