Xiamen, China, April 23, 2017 – Dutch team Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen claim gold in their 2017 debut defeating Italy’s Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Xiamen Open 2017.
Under the windy conditions on Guanyinshan Gold Beach, Brouwer/Meeuwsen had command over the first set against Nicolai/Lupo.
The two teams are no strangers and the Xiamen final was the fourteenth meeting between them. Nicolai/Lupo won the three most recent clashes, but it was Brouwer/Meeuwsen’s turn on the day putting Nicolai/Lupo on catch-up in the first and then second set.
A calm, collected, well executed match by the Dutch team secured the gold in straight sets, 2-0 (21-14, 21-17).
“I feel so happy, it’s been a while since we’ve won a tournament and it’s our first World Tour Open victory first event in the season and we win this, it’s really great,” said Brouwer.
“We already knew it would be a game of working really hard, especially because of these circumstances. I think our tactical game worked out pretty well and we had lots of guts. Just kept serving and hitting the balls at them and it was really convincing,” said Meeuwsen.
“We’re from Holland, still the wind is difficult, but it’s difficult for everyone. I think the key thing is to stay positive, work really hard. Every point you have to work really hard, especially in these circumstances and I think we did really well,” said Brouwer.
“They are such a tough partnership, we are about the same age, it’s been six/seven years we played together now, it’s always challenging," said Meeuwsen.
https://twitter.com/FIVBBeach/status/856078163390148608The silver for Nicolai/Lupo is their second medal in Xiamen after taking bronze in 2013.
“We lost the final and we know that we can do something better, but we have to say that the opponents today played amazing in the serve and put a lot of pressure on us, so congratulations to the Netherlands they played amazingly,” said Nicolai.
The win for Brouwer/Meeuwsen puts the two teams at seven wins each.
“It’s better like this, I think the next game will be the important one,” said Nicolai.
“We came fifth in Fort Lauderdale, now we are silver, so what is important is how we are playing. We are playing consistently, today not so much, but for us it was a good tournament,” said Nicolai.
The bronze medal went to Poland’s Maciej Rudol and Jakub Szalankiewicz after a tough fight against Brouwer/Meeuwsen in the morning semifinal, losing in the tiebreak, 2-1 (20-22, 21-15, 15-8).
The bronze medal match saw them pitted against Germany’s Armin Dollinger and Jonathan Erdmann with the two teams relatively evenly matched from the onset. Poland gained a better handle of the match in the second to earn Rudol/Szalankiewicz their first ever FIVB World Tour medal, 2-0 (21-16, 21-17).
“We’re feeling very good because for me it’s my first medal, I had two fourth places, so for me it’s amazing,” said Szalankiewicz.
“It’s great, we are a new team and we earned a medal, so it’s fantastic and we’re looking very, very good for the future,” said Rudol.
“We know each other, but not in this configuration because we are new, they are new, but we tried to play our best and we won,” said Szalankiewicz.
https://twitter.com/FIVBBeach/status/856026714417225732FIVB will return to China for two women only events, the Jiangning, Nanjing 2-star World Tour event from June 16 - 18 followed by the Nantong 2-star from June 23 - 25. The FIVB U-21 World Championships will be hosted in Nanjing from July 11 to 16 and then a 3-star World Tour event in Qinzhou from October 11 to 15.
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