China’s Xue-Zhang Xi move to the top-16 of the A-1 Grand Slam – Volleyball News
The A 1 Grand Slam women’s beach volleyball tournament kicked off in Klagenfurt, Austria on Monday, July 16. The tournament was opened with the Country Quota Playoffs, while the qualifying matches were played on day-2.
The successful teams of the Qualification Tournament entered the 32-team Main Draw stage. China’s Chen Xue and Zhang Xi directly entered the Main Draw due to their better ranking points. Chinese duo played two matches on Wednesday and finished the day with
2-0 record. The tandem continued with success in the third match on Thursday and tallied another victory that moved the team to a record of 3-0.
Xue-Zhang Xi remained without any loss and successfully reserved a spot in the top-16 teams of the tournament. Xue and Zhang Xi have high hopes to keep their momentum going and to qualify for the final four.
Lets’ have a little rundown on their opening matches of the tournament.
Top-seeded Chinese pair was challenged by Austria’s Rimser-Swoboda in the first fixture on Wednesday. The home duo was no match for the world champions and easily got defeated. The match produced results in just 32 minutes and Xue-Zhang Xi bagged early success.
They posted 2-0 (21-13, 21-13) victory over hosts in their first match of the A1 Grand Slam in Klagenfurt, Austria. The hosts had the competitive edge of playing at home, but nothing worked in their favour. They failed to penetrate the power of killing spikes
and deadly aces by the Chinese tandem.
With one victory in hand, Xue-Zhang Xi took on Spanish counterparts Liliana and Baquerizo in the next match. The 17th-seeded Spaniards played comparatively better than the Austrian duo, but received the same treatment by the charged-up Chinese.
The final set scores were 2-0 (21-14, 21-12). Xue and Zhang Xi perfectly complimented each other and closed the match in just 33 minutes. It was the second and the last match on Wednesday that featured China’s Xue and Zhang Xi. Chinese pair showed quality
in attack and defence, and achieved 2-0 record at the end of the day.
Next up, the Xue-Zhang Xi crossed their way with Swiss pair that consisted of Kayser and Heidrich. The third match took place on Thursday, while Chinese pair maintained its dominance on the net. Kayser-Heidrich failed to dismantle the power of rivals and
accepted defeat in straight sets. Swiss ladies dropped both sets with identical score of 21-13. Hence, Xue and Zhang Xi completed the winning streak of three matches and clawed their way to the next phase of the tournament.
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