Gstaad, Switzerland, July 8, 2017 - Saymon Barbosa and Alvaro Filho of Brazil protected their No. 1-seed in the US$600,000 Gstaad Major here Saturday by winning two matches to lead three other teams into Sunday’s semifinal and medal matches in the Swiss Alps village.
Seeking their second SWATCH Major Series gold medal after winning the season-opening event in mid-February at an event in the United States on a Florida Beach, Saymon and Alvaro posted their two wins Saturday over pairs from Brazil and the United States.
After eliminating reigning Olympic champions and ninth-seeded compatriots Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt 2-1 (21-15, 17-21, 15-13) in 48 minutes, Saymon and Alvaro advanced to the semifinals with a 2-1 (22-20, 19-21, 15-11) win in 36 minutes over 17th-seeded qualifiers Ryan Doherty/John Hyden of the United States. It was Saymon and Alvaro’s second Gstaad win over the Americans this week.
Joining Saymon and Alvaro in the Gstaad men’s semi-finals will be sixth-seeded compatriots Evandro Goncalves/Andre Loyola, third-seeded Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena of the United States and 10th-seeded Bartosz Losiak/Piotr Kantor of Poland.
Saymon and Alvaro will play the Polish pair in the first FIVB World Tour meeting between the two teams while Dalhausser and Lucena will be seeking revenge against Evandro and Loyola as the Brazilians defeated the Americans in the Fort Lauderdale Major semi-final
Kantor and Losiak advanced to their ninth FIVB semi-final in 64 World Tour events together by eliminating 16th-seeded compatriots Michal Bryl/Grzegorz Fijalek 2-0 (21-13, 21-15) in a 30-minute quarter-final match. Kantor and Losiak started play Saturday by defeating eighth-seeded Nico Beeler/Marco Krattiger of Switzerland 2-0 (21-17, 21-12) in 32 minutes.
After eliminating 29th-seeded qualifiers Jefferson Santos Pereira/Cherif Younousse of Qatar 2-0 (21-16, 21-14) in 35 minutes to open play Saturday, Dalhausser and Lucena advanced to their 15th World Tour semi-final in 24 FIVB events with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) victory in 36 minutes over seventh-seeded Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin of Russia.
In the final Gstaad Major match Saturday, Evandro and Loyola posted a 2-1 (17-21, 21-12, 20-18) quarter-final win 52-minutes over 15th-seeded Sam Pedlow/Sam Schachter of Canada. To start play Saturday, Evandro and Loyola eliminated compatriots and second-seeded qualifiers Gustavo "Guto" Carvalhaes/Pedro Solberg 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) in 37 minutes.
Evandro will be seeking his second Gstaad Major title as he and Solberg captured the 2016 gold medal in the Swiss Alps village with a 2-0 (24-22, 21-16) win in 41 minutes over Dalhausser and Lucena. The Swiss-born Dalhausser has won three Gstaad gold medals, including two with Todd Rogers (2007 and 2010) and one with Sean Rosenthal (2014).
