Playing together for the first-time this season, Saymon and Alvaro qualified for the FIVB World Tour Finals via their international ranking.  The Brazilians, who captured the 2017 season-opening event in the United States at the Fort Lauderdale Major in south Florida, placed 17th earlier this month at the FIVB World Championships in Vienna.  Saymon started his FIVB career with 2005 world champion Marcio Araujo in 2015.  Before teaming with Alvaro, Saymon netted a FIVB World Tour title with Gustavo "Guto" Carvalhaes at a 2016 stop in the United States at Cincinnati.  Alvaro started playing on the FIVB World Tour in 2011 and captured gold medals with Ricardo Santos (2013 Gstaad) and Pedro Solberg (2014 Stare Jablonki).  Alvaro and Ricardo placed second at the 2013 FIVB World Championships in Poland.