Gstaad, Switzerland, July 4, 2017 - History was made here Tuesday in the Swiss Alps as Gustavo "Guto" Carvalhaes and Pedro Solberg won an international beach volleyball match for the ninth-straight day to set a FIVB World Tour record.
Starting June 26 in Porec through Tuesday in Gstaad for the $600,000 Swatch Major Series stop, Guto and Solberg have won 11 matches during the nine-day period highlighted by July 2’s gold medal win over Italian Olympians Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai in three sets.
After defeating compatriots Vitor Felipe/George Wanderley 2-1 (21-16, 14-21, 15-12) in a 52-minute Gstaad Major country quota match Monday, the top-seeded Guto and Solberg advanced to Wednesday’s opening men’s pool play rounds by ousting 16th-seeded Armin Dollinger/Jonathan Erdmann of Germany 2-0 (21-16, 21-13) in a 36-minute contest Tuesday.
“It’s an incredible streak,” said the 23-year old Guto. “Each match is tough and we have to play our best. Winning the gold medal in Porec Sunday was the highlight of my beach volleyball career. I just hope we can keep it going, but it will be tough as every team is out to win, especially against the last tournament’s winners.”
Other teams qualifying Tuesday for the men’s Gstaad Major Main Draw were second-seeded Ryan Doherty/John Hyden of the United States, third-seeded Anders Mol/Christian Sorum of Norway, fifth-seeded Martins Plavins/Haralds Regza of Latvia, eighth-seeded Dries Koekelkoren/Tom van Walle of Belgium, 10th-seeded Christopher McHugh/Damien Schumann of Australia, 11th-seeded Adrian Carambula/Alex Ranghieri of Italy and 13th-seeded Jefferson Santos Pereira/Cherif Younousse of Qatar,