The first Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 event in Rosarito, Mexico ended with the wins of the Qatari men and the Dutch women. Middle European Teams left a strong and positive impression led by the Czech Perusic/Schweiner finishing at a 5th and Austrian Seidl/Waller at the final 9th place.
Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner were the only Middle European team directly in the Main Draw of the first Elite 16 event. After a rocky start and a slightly surprising loss to the Brazilians Allison/Guto, the Czech team quickly turned it around and won the next two pool matches against the Boermans/De Groot from the Netherlands and the host team from Mexico, Gaxiola/Rubio. Two wins were enough to enter the Quarterfinals, where they were stopped by the later winners from Qatar Cherif/Ahmed Tijan in a close three set match.
Philipp Waller and Robin Seidl ended up in the top 10 – a result that gives great confidence for the remainder of the season. “If someone had told me beforehand that we would qualify and finish 9th, I would have probably taken it straight away. It’s unbelievable how after a perfect season preparation, it quickly became quite not so perfect because of Covid. To still perform like this here is cool and I’m happy. I’m excited for the next tournaments,” says Waller, who led the best scorers (90 points) and best server rating (14 aces) at the time of elimination.
Seidl was relieved: “I’m very happy that we made the decision to play here. Because of my corona disease, it was not clear for a long time whether we could fly. Then making through the qualification and finishing 9th was strong of us.”
Main Draw
Quarterfinals
Perusic/Schweiner (CZE) – Cherif/Ahmed Tijan (QAT) 1-2 (18-21, 21-16, 12-15)
Pool Play
Seidl/Waller (AUT) – Cherif/Ahmed Tijan (QAT) 0-2 (13-21, 16-21)
Perusic/Schweiner (CZE) – Gaxiola/Rubio (MEX) 2-0 (21-15, 21-17)
Seidl/Waller (AUT) – Evandro/Alvaro Filho (BRA) 2-1 (19-21. 21-16, 15-11)
Perusic/Schweiner (CZE) – Boermans/De Groot (NED) 2-0 (21-19, 21-11)
Seidl/Waller (AUT) – Bryl/Losiak (POL) 0-2 (14-21, 17-21)
Perusic/Schweiner (CZE) – Alison/Guto (BRA) 0-2 (18-21, 17-21)
Qualification
2nd round:
Schützenhöfer/Plesiutschnig (AUT) – Muller/Tillmann (GER) 1-2 (15-21, 22-20, 9-15)
Seidl, R./Waller (AUT) – Grimalt M./Grimalt E. (CHI) 2-0 (21-19, 21-12)
1st round:
Schützenhöfer/Plesiutschnig (AUT) – Elize Maia/Thamela (BRA) 2-1 (19-21, 21-11, 16-14)
Seidl, R./Waller (AUT) – Nolvak/Tiisaar (EST) 2-1 (28-26, 17-21, 15-12)
Huber, A./Dressler (AUT) – Nicolai/Cottafava (ITA) 0-2 (16-21, 13-21)
