Xue and Zhang Xi kick things off in a great way at the Sanya Open – Volleyball news
The dynamic Chinese duo of Chen Xue and Zhang Xi jumped to great start in the Sanya Open women’s beach volleyball tournament.
The top-seeded duo opened the tournament in the Main Draw and bagged two wins in the first two matches on Thursday, April 26.
Besides the home duo, three Brazilian tandems, two from Austria and one each from Switzerland and Italy also pulled off success in their opening matches.
In first fixture of the day, Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas Figueiredo from Brazil came to challenge the Chinese duo. The visiting pair started off slow and made a few attack errors in the early few minutes.
However, the Chinese pair went straight into action and displayed a great class in serve and attack. The shooting balls from Chinese half devastated the Brazilian pair. Xue and Zhang quickly traded placed but complimented each other in a perfect way. The
visiting team trailed behind and could not resist to opponent’s lead in the match.
Xue and Zhang continued at same pace and added a flurry of points. They hit from different angles and also scored points on tricky bump passes. The first set came successful for home due as they posted 21-15 on board.
Following the loss of the opening set, Brazilian team came up with better attacks. They were quite settled down in their positions and returned many of the Xue-Zhang’s tricky shots. With better display of digging and diving, they managed to stay near Chinese
opponents but could not avoid the defeat. The hosts closed second set at 24-22 and claimed first victory of the day.
In the next match, Xue-Zhang overpowered 16th seeds Maria Tsiartsiani/Vasiliki Arvaniti from Greece 21-17 and 21-15. The home duo proved to be too strong for the opponents and comfortably cruised past to 2-0 victory.
Xue Chen shared her views after the match. She stated, “It’s really hot here in Sanya. We are very happy to win two matches in a row today, otherwise it would be really difficult to play in the lower bracket. I think it’s a very good start for us.”
Zhang Xi said, “It’s just a beginning (of the Olympic season), I think we need to work really hard, step by step, to achieve our goal.”
Xue and Zhang demonstrated a spectacular performance at the Brasilia Open, which complete its length last week. The Chinese tandem clawed its way to the final showdown of the tournament and defeated the host team, in order to seized gold medal victory. Xue
and Zhang are enjoying a top form and hope to add another title win to their tally.
Next up, the Chinese duo will take on Gioria-Momoli of Italy in the Round 3 of Main Draw. The next will be held on Friday, April 27.
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