Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 20, 2017 - New pairs with limited experience together will be facing off for a FIVB World Tour gold medal as the teams of Melissa Humana-Paredes/Sarah Pavan of Canada will challenge Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda "Duda" Lisboa of Brazil after the two duos won two matches each here Saturday at the US$300,000 Rio Open.
Being played at the tennis center located at the Olympic Park in Barra da Tijuca, the two teams will meet Sunday morning with the winning pair sharing the $20,000 first-place prize along with garnering gold medals in winning the sixth women’s event on the 2017 FIVB World Tour calendar.
With both teams playing in their second international Beach Volleyball event together, the 11th-seeded Humana-Paredes and Pavan advanced to the Sunday’s finale with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) victory in 41 minutes over seventh-seeded Barbora Hermannova and Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic. While Pavan will be playing in her fourth FIVB finale with three seconds to her credit, Humana-Paredes is competing in her first-ever World Tour “final four” in 31 international starts.
Sarah Pavan (left) and Melissa Humana-Paredes of Canada
Earlier Saturday in the opening match of the day, Humana-Paredes and Pavan eliminated reigning Olympic champions and second-seeded Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst of Germany with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-13) quarter-final win in 33 minutes. Hermannova and Slukova gained a semi-final berth by out-lasting third-seeded Chantal Laboureur and Julia Sude of Germany 2-1 (21-16, 19-21, 15) in 48 minutes.
Barbora Hermannova (right) and Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic
Agatha and Duda’s path to the finals starting with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) quarter-final win over 22nd-seeded Kelly Claes/Sara Hughes of the United States. Seeded fourth in the Rio Open, Agatha and Duda advanced to the gold medal match with a 2-1 (21-23, 21-15, 15-7) win in 59 minutes over fifth-seeded compatriots Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas.
Agatha, a silver medal winner with Barbara at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games where the pair dropped the title match to Ludwig and Walkenhorst, and Duda will be playing in their second FIVB finale this season. In the first FIVB event this season in the United States, Brazilian rivals Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca defeated Agatha and Duda for the title at the Fort Lauderdale Major in Florida.
Both Agatha and Duda are familiar with FIVB World Tour finales. Agatha will be playing in her 14th gold medal match with four gold medal finishes with Barbara. Duda, who has captured five FIVB youth world champion titles, will be competing in her fifth World Tour finale with two gold medals to her credit.
Fernanda and Barbara advanced to the semi-finals with a 2-1 (21-19, 13-21 and 15-12) quarter-final win in 48 minutes over the top-seeded Talita and Larissa, who placed fourth at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games after losing in the medal rounds to Ludwig/Walkenhorst and April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings of the United States.
Fernanda Alves of Brazil
The women’s bronze medal match will be played first Sunday following by the men’s third-place contest, the women’s finale and the men’s gold medal confrontation as teams from Brazil, Italy, Poland and the United States vie for the top spot on the podium.
Following the Rio Open, the next stop on the FIVB World Tour will be May 31-June 4 in Moscow for a three-star event in the Russian capital. Highlighting the 2017 international calendar for men and women Beach Volleyball players will be the $1-million FIVB World Championships July 28 through August 6 in Austria and the $800,000 SWATCH FIVB World Tour Finals August 23-27 in Hamburg, Germany.
