Gst, Switzerland, July 10, 2010 - For the fifth-time in eight SWATCH FIVB World Tour events in 2010, teams from four different countries have advanced to an international Beach Volleyball semi-final as pairs from Brazil, Germany, Poland and the United States captured two matches each here Saturday at the US$600,000 1to1 energy Grand Slam.
With the men’s quarter-final matches delayed for one or two hours depending on the scheduled start time for each contest due to heavy rains and lightning, Saturday’s winners featured two first-time semi-finalists in 2010 along with two teams that have already secured SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medals this season.
The first-time “final four” teams are seventh-seeded Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel of Poland and 11th-seeded Marcio Araujo/Ricardo Santos of Brazil.Top-seeded Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers earned their eighth-straight semi-final appearance this season as the Americans have already won four gold medals in 2010.
Eighth-seeded David Klemperer and Eric Koreng, who rebounded from two 1to1 energy Grand Slam defeats on Thursday, gained their second-straight “final four” berth after the Germans captured their first SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal this past Sunday at the Norwegian Grand Slam in Stavanger.
Marcio Araujo, sponsored by SH+ , and Ricardo, who are now unbeaten in nine matches this week after winning two matches each on Tuesday and Wednesday during the preliminary rounds, will challenge the Germans in Sunday’s first semi-final match while Fijalek and Prudel play Dalhausser and Rogers in the second morning match.
With the only matches between the semi-final teams being played this season, Marcio Araujo and Ricardo posted a three-set elimination bracket win over the Germans in Prague last month after Dalhausser and Rogers spoiled an upset bid by the Poles on their home sand at the end of May in Myslowice.
After posting a pool and elimination wins Friday, Klemperer and Koreng defeated 18th-seeded Florian Gosch and Alexander Horst of Austria in their first match Saturday (21-11, 21-14, 41 minutes) before scoring a 21-16 and 21-17 victory in 40 minutes over 12th-seeded Igor Kolodinsky and Yaroslav Koshkarev for Russia.
Marcio Araujo and Ricardo opened play Saturday with a 21-14 and 21-16 win in 45 minutes over ninth-seeded Philip Gabathuler and Jan Schnider of Switzerland before eliminating sixth-seeded Brazilian rivals Pedro Cunha and Thiago Santos Barbosa 21-18 and 21-15 in 45 minutes.
Playing together for the first-time this season, Marcio Araujo and Ricardo have combined for 67 SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medals with different partners.Marcio Araujo captured the 2003 Gstaad title with Benjamin Insfran while Ricardo topped the Swiss podium twice with Emanuel Rego in 2005 and 2006.Ricardo and Emanuel were second at the 2009 1to1 energy Grand Slam after losing the gold medal match to Germans Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann.
In advancing to their second SWATCH FIVB World Tour semi-final, Fijalek and Prudel eliminated 13th-seeded Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena by defeating the Americans 21-14 and 21-18 in 39 minutes.Rebounding from a 25th-place finish last week in Norway, the Poles opened play Saturday posting an 18-21, 21-16 and 16-14 win in 65 minutes over 20th-seeded Yury Bogatov and Serguei Prokopiev of Russia.Fijalek and Prudel’s first “final four” appearance was at the 2008 season finale in Bahrain.
After losing an 11-21, 22-20 and 15-7 decision to Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal in their first match Thursday, Dalhausser and Rogers rebounded to eliminate the 16th-seeded American rivals 21-18, 16-21 and 18-16 in 65 minutes to advance to their 25th SWATCH semi-finals.Dalhausser and Rogers opened play Saturday with a 21-12 and 21-16 win in 41 minutes over 24th-seeded Jason Lochhead and Kirk Pitman of New Zealand.
The 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour leaders, Dalhausser and Rogers have now netted 10-straight international “final fours” appearances since placing fifth at the 2009 1to1 energy Grand Slam.The reigning Olympic champions, Dalhausser and Rogers have a Gstaad gold medal to their credit after winning the 2007 FIVB world title in the Swiss village.
While the men will be playing for the $43,500 first-place prize Sunday afternoon, Brazilians Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca captured the 11th SWATCH FIVB World Tour women’s gold medal in Gstaad Saturday by defeating Germans Laura Ludwig and Sara Goller 21-17 and 24-22 in the 50-minute title match.
