Pairs from Hungary, Slovenia advance to tomorrow’s main draw action in Sofia, Bulgaria

Two American women’s teams and two Italian men’s teams were among the ones who achieved two wins each in Thursday’s qualifications at the second Sofia 1-star stop on FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2021. Duos from Lithuania and Ukraine on the women’s side and men’s pairs from France and Hungary also advanced to the main draw in the Bulgarian capital.

Third-seeded Americans Sarah Schermerhorn and Aurora Davis defeated Austria’s Franziska Friedl and Eva Pfeffer with 2-1 (14-21, 21-13, 15-12). Ukraine’s Anhelina Khmil and Tetiana Lazarenko, seeded fifth, achieved a 2-1 (14-21, 21-13, 15-12) win over Italy’s Chiara They and Sara Breidenbach, who had themselves battled it out for a 2-1 (24-22, 30-32, 15-6) first-round upset of fourth-seeded Austrians Eva Freiberger and Viktoria Fink in the longest running women’s match of the day, 57 minutes.

There were more straight-setters in the men’s qualifications. Two Italian pairs, Samuele Cottafava and Gianluca Dal Corso and Alex Ranghieri and Marco Viscovich, seeded first and second, respectively, hammered out two shutouts each, with only Slovenia’s Danijel Pokeršnik and Crtomir Bošnjak managing to push one of them, Ranghieri and Viscovich, to an overtime set before losing by 2-0 (27-25, 21-15). The Slovenian duo was nevertheless able to advance to the Main Draw as lucky losers after another team’s withdrawal.

Hungary’s Artur Hajos and Bence Attila Streli, seeded 13th, delivered clean-slate upsets of fourth-seeded South Africans Jerome Fredericks and Leo Williams, 2-0 (21-18, 21-19), and fifth-seeded Americans Travis Mewhirter and Adam Roberts, 2-0 (22-20, 21-17).

The only two teams who had won their first-round matches in three sets, met each other in the second. France’s Timothee Platre and Liam Patte, seeded 14th, closed the competition day with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-16) victory over Sweden’s Martin Appelgren and Alexander Herrmann, after achieving a hard-earned 2-1 (16-21, 21-18, 21-19) comeback against third-seeded Austrians Florian Schnetzer and Lorenz Petutschnig in a 65-minute game.

Schedule & Results:
Main Draw
Pool Play:
08:45 Legieta/Gromadowska (POL) – Dave/Starikov (ISR)
09:30 Klinger D./Klinger R. (AUT) – Khmil/Lazarenko (UKR)
10:15 Dumbauskaite/Grudzinskaite (LTU) – Kotnik/Lovsin T. (SLO)
11:00 Seiser/Kindl (AUT) – Hoey/Macneil (CAN)
11:50 Ranghieri/Visovich (ITA) – Ertl F./Kratz (AUT)
12:40 Pedrosa/Campos (POR) – Pokeršnik D./Bošnjak (SLO)
13:30 Cottafava/Dal Corso (ITA) – Hajos/Streli (HUN)

Qualification
2nd Round:
Schermerhorn/Davis (USA) – Friedl Fr./Pfeffer E. (AUT) 2-1 (14-21, 21-13, 15-12)
Mewhirter/Roberts (USA) – Hajos/Streli (HUN) 0-2 (20-22, 17-21)
Pokeršnik D./Bošnjak (SLO) – Ranghieri/Viscovich (ITA) 0-2 (25-27, 15-21)

1st Round:
Khmil/Lazarenko (UKR) – Vasvári, E./Vasvári, Z. (HUN) 2-0 (21-9, 21-11)
They/Breidenbach (ITA) – Freiberger/Fink (AUT) 2-1 (24-22, 30-32, 15-6)
Pinheiro/Castro (POR) – Friedl Fr./Pfeffer E. (AUT) 1-2 (21-15, 17-21, 11-15)
Hajos/Streli (HUN) – Fredericks/Williams (RSA) 2-0 (21-18, 21-19)
Schnetzer/Petutschnig (AUT) – Platre/Patte (FRA) 1-2 (21-16, 18-21, 19-21)
Pokeršnik D./Bošnjak (SLO) – Haitham/Ahmed (OMA) 2-0 (21-15, 21-14)