Dutch and Brazilian duos make it to the semis of the 2012 Moscow Grand Slam
Netherlands’ top-seeded duo of Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil performed well at the quarter-finals of the 2012 SWATCH FIVB Moscow Grand Slam and booked a slot in the semi-final.
Likewise, Brazilian tandem of Ricardo Santos and Pedro Cunha joined the Dutch pair after winning the other quarter-final match on same day.
Top-ranked Dutch pair edged out Benjamin-Bruno of Brazil in the quarterfinal match on Monday. Victory did not come easy for Nummerdor and Schuil. The Brazilians used many different tactics to down the opponents. However, Nummerdor and Schuil kept the Brazilian
tandem in chase for better time in the opening set. Convincing serves by Nummerdor and successful attack attempts of Schuil perfectly worked out and first flight of the match ended in Netherlands' favour at 21-15.
However, Bruno-Benjamin hit back aggressively in the following set. They managed to overcome the resilient rivals and defeated them with identical score of 21-15 in the second set. After the tie of scores at 1-1, the game entered third decisive set.
In the third set, Nummerdor-Schuil regained power and did not allow the opponents to come up. They picked up an early lead and quickly covered the length of third set. Brazilians dropped third set 8-15 and suffered loss in the match.
“They were playing without mistakes in the second set, we could not get a grip on their game. We had to change something. And in the tiebreak Richard had some great serves en blocks, that really made the difference,” said Nummerdor after the match.
On other hand, the pairing of Ricardo Santos and Pedro Cunha from Brazil defeated Latvia’s Samoilovs and Sorokins. They posted 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) victory over Latvian duo in 43 minutes and clawed their way to the final four.
13th-seeded Latvian pair was hardly a match for third ranked Brazilian team. They dropped both sets with identical score of 21-15.
Cunha seemed satisfied with the match result. He commented, “We are getting more and more confident. Especially after winning the gold in Prague two weeks ago. There is good chemistry between us.”
In the next run, the victorious Brazilian duo of Ricardo-Cunha is scheduled to take on Dutch team of Nummerdor-Schuil in the first semi-final match, which is surely going to be cracking fight between the two. Following the two semi-finals, the final showdown
of the tournament will be played and the champions of 2012 Moscow Grand Slam will catch the limelight.
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