Otera Open Kristiansand - Synopsis of the 16-match Main Draw on Thursday
The SWATCH FIVB World Tour’s 11th event of women’s beach volleyball provided a great entertainment to the fans in the city of Kristiansand, Norway. The Otera Open 2010 attracted huge masses of people to enjoy the beach volleyball frenzy, which started on Monday, 9th August. The SWATCH FIVB World Tour will feature four more events for women before the event is closed.
It was the consecutive fourth episode of Otera Open at Kristiansand and previous three titles were captured by the outstanding Brazilian duo Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca. The Brazilian teams have always enjoyed the top spots in SWATCH FIVB events by exhibiting their extra-ordinary beach volleyball expertises. This time around, Brazil played with four pairs seeded amongst the top eight teams in the event.
The Otera Open reached 16-match Main Draw stage on Thursday, 12th August 2010 and only two Brazilian pairs survived up till that stage. The top-seeded Juliana/Larissa and 8th-seeded Salgado Sisters, Carolina and Maria Clara proved their mastery skills and remained in the third round winner’s bracket play. It is obviously tough to play in the contender’s bracket and the surviving two pair had to earn their berths in Thursday’s Main Draw through a lot of hard-work.
The second-seeded Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes of Brazil played the first elimination rounds on Thursday and lost the open set of matches in the hands of American 16th-seeded Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Hanson. The American pair posted 21-19 and 23 in 41 minutes and Maria Antonelli/Talita Antunes had to make a graceful exit from the SWATCH FIVB Otera Open 2010.
In fact, the No. 2 ranked Brazilian pair couldn’t perform in a steady way. In the Main Draw of 32 matches on Wednesday, they received a worst defeat from the German 15th-seeded Geeske Banck and Anja Gunther in two straight set. The German dismantled the Brazilian strength in 37 minutes by posting 21-19 and 22-20. Maria and Talita finished at the 17th-place, which is their season’s lowest finish.
Quite similarly, the other struggling Brazilian pair comprising of fourth-seeded Vivian Cunha and Taiana Lima was crushed by China’s impressive pair. Vivian/Lima tried their best to produce some nice spikes to dominate the 21st-seeded Ying Huang and Yuan Yue but they seemed totally out of luck. The game took different turns; first set ended in the favour of China’s team, Brazilian won the second set but lost the third set. The battle continued for 63 minutes and finally Brazil gave in. China confirmed their participation in the quarter-final matches of Friday. Vivian/Lima finished 13th-place, which is quite dramatic as they finished second in the A-1 Grand Slam Women’s Championship at Klagenfurt, Austria two weeks back.
Apart from un-successful teams, Canadian 14th-seeded Marie-Andree Lessard and Annie Martin joined the victorious Chinese pair in Friday’s 10-match Main Draw. Likewise, the pairs from Belgium and Germany also made their mark and qualified for the next stage of tournament. The winning pairs dismissed American and Georgian pairs respectively.
The Main Draw on Thursday reached its end with the winner’s bracket matches. The top-seeded Juliana and Larissa ousted the Salgado sisters in two straight sets while the American fifth-seeded Jen Kessy and April Ross defeated their home-rivals, 13th-seeded Angie Akers and Tyra Turner. By their respective wins, Juliana/Larissa set up Friday’s quarter-final match with Jen Kessy and April Ross.
After the 16-match Main Draw, the game entered into more crucial phase of quarter-final matches on Friday, which determined the women’s “final four” pairings. The semi-finals and the medal matches were played on Saturday where invincible Juliana and Larissa claimed final victory.
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