Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca win the Otera Open 2010
Teams from America, Brazil and China powered through to the quarter-final stage with ease. The 16-match main draw on Thursday featured ten matches amongst the best beach volleyball teams participating at the US $380,000 Otera Open in the Norwegian city of Kristiansand.
The top-seeded Brazilian pairing of Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca paved their way from the quarter-finals to the “final four” matches of Saturday by delivering a stunning performance. The Chinese third-seeded pairing of Chen Xue and Xi Zhang joined them after winning their quarter-final match. Both of these teams progressed to the semi-final stage in the last SWATCH FIVB World Tour’s event in Poland. At the centre courts of Hotel Anders in Stare Jablonki, Juliana/Larissa outplayed Chen/Zhang in the final match and secured the Mazury Orlen Grand Slam Title. Once again, the teams were up to the test at the Otera Open Kristiansand’s semi-final matches.
The 2010 season proved to be very fruitful for the top-seeded Juliana/Larissa as they captured six international titles in their previous games and Otera Open provided them with another chance to add one more gold medal to their collection of titles.
By defeating Salgado Sisters and Jen Kessy/April Ross in quarter-final match, they entered the “final four” stage for 69th time in the history of SWATCH FIVB World Tour. Juliana/Larissa defeated Maria Clara and Carolina Salgado in the 16 match main draw on Thursday, 12th August 2010. They finished the game in 36 minutes by posting scores of 21-15 and 21-13 against the Salgado Sisters.
Chinas Xue and Zhang made it to the final four after defeating Czech Republic. In the first match, the 7th seeded pairing of Lenka Hajeckova/Hana Klapalova lost to Xue and Zhang while in the second match, the 6thseeded pair of Krisyna/Marketa lost to the Chinese team.
American Jen Kessy and April Ross earned their “final four” berth after beating the German team. It was their 22nd time to be a part of the “final four” matches at SWATCH FIVB World Tour. They climbed up to the semi-finals stage in the first five events of SWATCH FIVB World Tour.
Although the Salgado Sisters lost their first quarter-final match to Juliana/Larissa but they returned in the game afterwards. They demonstrated an excellent game and were able to follow the rivals, Juliana and Larissa, in the semi-final. They defeated teams from Canada and Belgium to qualify for the “final four” matches on Saturday. It was a big achievement for Maria Clara and Carolina Salgado. The Salgado’s played their 10th SWATCH FIVB World Tour semi-final this season.
In the semi-final match, Juliana and Larissa went head–to-head against eighth-seeded Salgado sisters (Carolina/Maria Clara). Juliana/Larissa were simply on fire as they crashed every good team in their way and extended their winning streak to 33 straight wins in the main draw matches of SWATCH FIVB Otera Open Kristiansand, Norway. The Salgado sisters had already lost a match to Juliana/Larissa and that was why they did not pose a great threat for the top-seeded pair.
On the other hand, Chinas Xue and Zhang defeated the fast-paced American pair of Jen Kessy and April Ross in the semi-final. 2007’s Otera Open Champions Juliana/Larissa played the final match against China’s Chen Xue and Xi Zhang. Juliana and Larissa finished third-place in Otera Open 2009 and they had the objective of conquering the title this time. At the end of the final match, the Brazilian pair outperformed the Chinese and went on to clinch the title.
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