Xiamen, China, April 22, 2017 – Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen enter FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Xiamen Open 2017 semifinal in their first tournament of the year.
The Dutch team make their 2017 debut after winning bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. They are back and they mean business. Brouwer/Meeuwsen opened the day by defeating Norway’s Mathias Berntsen and Christian Sandlie Sorum to reach the quarterfinal, 2-0 (21-14, 21-17).
They then faced USA’s Sean Rosenthal and Trevor Crabb who had sent three teams packing progressing up from qualification. Brouwer/Meeuwsen began the match strongly, but Rosenthal/Crabb would not let the Dutch get away without a fight. Impressive blocking from Crabb paired with the experience and skill of Rosenthal drew the match into the tie-break.
Brouwer/Meeuwsen recomposed in the third to close the match 2-1 (21-16, 17-21, 15-9).
“There was a lot of wind and even a little rain that is difficult to play with, but I think the most important thing is your attitude and keep playing forward and we did that quite well. In the second set, a little bit less so, and then we managed to start really well in the third set and I think that led us to the victory,” said Meeuwen.
“It’s our first tournament of the season and we were really eager to play a lot of matches and perform well here, so I’m happy that we got three wins although this last one was quite a struggle. It’s always tough against USA and especially Rosey (Rosenthal), he was playing really well. We’re both enjoying to play here and look forward to continue that tomorrow,” said Brouwer.
Top seeds Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo, also progress into the semifinals with two solid performances from the Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallists. The Italians opened the day of matches on centre court and took a convincing victory over Switzerland’s Nico Beeler and Marco Krattinger, 2-0 (21-16, 21-16).
“It was great, it’s never easy to play the first match of the day, we played an amazing team, they are young, but they are very good players,” said Nicolai.
https://twitter.com/FIVBBeach/status/855644239119691777In the quarterfinal Nicolai/Lupo met USA’s Ryan Doherty and James Avery Drost. Another skilled performance from the unassuming Italians, placed the pair in their first semifinal of the year, 2-0 (21-17, 21-12).
Poland’s Maciej Rudol and Jakub Szalankiewicz are also through to the semifinal after defeating powerful Cuban team, Sergio Reynaldo Gonzalez Bayard and Diaz Gomez Nivaldo Nadir, 2-1 (22-20, 13-21, 15-11).
“In the beginning of the tournament, we started badly because our level was not high, but every game we’ve played better and I think against Cuba we played, maybe not best, but good volleyball. That’s why we won and we’re happy,” said Szalankiewicz.
“Our game is better and better in this tournament, so we just need some time to rest and we’ll be good for tomorrow,” said Rudol.
https://twitter.com/FIVBBeach/status/855723235970875392German’s Armin Dollinger and Jonathan Erdmann take their spot in the Xiamen semifinal, first defeating number number four seeded Mexicans Juan Virgen and Lombardo Ontiveros in a nail biting tie-break, 2-1 (21-17, 10-21, 17-15), before meeting Austria’s Kunert/Dressler.
Under blustery conditions, Dollinger A./Erdmann secured the win to enter their first FIVB World Tour final four together, 2-0 (21-17, 21-18).
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