Three German beach volleyball duos have reached the quarterfinals at the international Elite 16 tournament of the Beach Pro Tour in Hamburg.
Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler remained undefeated in their adopted home in their three group games, as did Karla Borger and Julia Sude from Stuttgart.
Müller and Tillmann say goodbye with victory
Hamburg’s Sandra Ittlinger and Isabel Schneider made it into the top eight after losing. In the decisive game for the important second place in their pool, they prevailed against the Italians Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi 16:21, 21:16, 15:13.
On the other hand, Chantal Laboreur and Sarah Schulz as well as the World Cup bronze medalists Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann were eliminated. After two defeats, Laboureur/Schulz bowed out of the $300,000 event with a 18:21, 21:18, 15:11 against the Brazilians Talita/Rebecca. The women from Stuttgart had only fought their way into the tournament of the top 16 through qualification.
Hamburg’s number one seeded Müller/Tillmann already had no chance for the next round after their two defeats on the first day. But they could still be happy about the 22:20, 21:18 against the Spaniards Daniela Álvarez / Tania Moreno at the end of the group games.
Ehlers and Wickler in strong form ahead of EM
A few days before the start of the European Championships in Munich, Ehlers and Wickler were in great shape at temperatures of around 30 degrees. After their opening win against the World Cup runners-up Renato Lima and Vitor Felipe from Brazil the day before, the newly formed team had two more successes: first against the Spaniards Pablo Herrera and Adrián Gavira with 21:15, 21:19, then against the Chilean Marco Grimalt/Esteban Grimalt at 21:15, 18:21, 15:10.
Karla Borger and Julia Sude won on Friday first against the number three seeded Brazilians Barbara Seixas de Freitas and Carolina Solberg Salgado 21:16, 19:21, 15:10, then also against the Thais Taravadee Naraphornrapat and Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee with 21: 9, 19:21, 15:6.
The men’s Olympic champions, world champions and four-time European champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum from Norway were also unable to play their second game. Sørum had already signed off on Thursday due to illness.