Brazilian team has successful run at 2011 Moscow Grand Slam – Men
The 2011 SWATCH FIVB Moscow Grand Slam reached its close this past Sunday, July 17. The six-day long tournament featured games in the Country Quota, Qualification Tournament and Main Draw. Teams with better skills survived and made it to the final stage
of the tournament, while the rest got eliminated as the tournament progressed. The following four men’s duos displayed spectacular performances and settled for the medal matches on the day of the tournament.
Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego – Brazil Jefferson Bellaguarda and Patrick Heuscher – Switzerland Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers - USA Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu - China
This is the same order, in which they settled down after the completion of tournament. Brazil's top-seeded pair of Emanuel/Alison maintained a perfect record in the tournament and finished in the top position. They got their hands on the title-trophy without
losing any matches during the 2011 Moscow Grand Slam. They opened the tournament in the Main-Draw stage and played three matches under the tag of Pool J.
The dynamic duo of Emanuel/ Alison was challenged by Russian, German and Swiss teams in the opening round. None of them could bring any harm to Brazilian legacy but received defeats in the straight sets. Emanuel/ Alison completed the early stage with a score
of 3-0 and moved to the grid of top-16 teams. In the next run, they played just one match against ninth-seeded Russian due and clinched success. Victory in the top-16 round helped them book a slot in the top-8 round.
Afterwards, they clashed with compatriots Bruno and Benjamin in the quarter-finals (top-8). Emanuel/ Alison dominated the opposite side and easily qualified for the semi-final. From the other side, Chinese pairing of Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu joined them
in the semis. The 7th-seeded Chinese team was not a big threat for strong Brazilian side. Emanuel/ Alison played their natural game in the semi-final and held off Chinese team for 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) victory.
The other semi-final match of the 2011 Moscow Grand Slam featured teams from USA and Switzerland. Fourth-seeded Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers of USA met 12th-seeded Swiss duo of Jefferson Bellaguarda and Patrick Heuscher. The American fans generally
believed that it was an easy task for their team to overcome the Swiss. However, the final result of the match drew total different picture. The SWATCH FIVB World Champions Dalhausser and Rogers lost the semi-final match to Swiss Jefferson/Heuscher. Americans
had to settle for bronze medal match, while Swiss team advanced to the final match with Emanuel/ Alison.
The final encounter of the 2011 Moscow Grand Slam spanned over three sets and continued for 55 minutes. The rainy court at the Pokklonaya Gora in Moscow was crowded with passionate beach volleyball fans. World champions Emanuel and Alison proved to be the
better team and dug up success by nailing a 21-16, 18-21, and 17-15 win over their rivals. Emanuel/Alison won the final match and bagged $43,500 in addition to the 800 points.
Emanuel commented on the final match in the following manner: “In the second and third set the Swiss really played well. Me and Alison both had trouble receiving their service. Also, it started to rain in the second set. I think they like this type of weather,
but we Brazilians don’t. It makes me feel cold, I lose concentration and the ball slips and is hard to control. But we worked as a team and in the end that worked.”
Swiss teams captured a silver medal while Dalhuasser/Rogers and Wu/Xu settled in 3rd and 4th positions, respectively.
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