Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler pulled off a surprise at the start of the international Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 tournament in Hamburg.
The beach volleyball duo from the Hanseatic city prevailed in their first group game against the World Cup runners-up Renato Lima and Vitor Felipe from Brazil 21:19, 21:18.
Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann, on the other hand, started the home tournament with two defeats. The third-placed World Cup team, who also trained in Hamburg, initially lost to former European champions Anastasija Kravcenoka/Tina Graudina from Latvia 13:21, 21:14, 15:13.
In the evening there was a 14:21, 24:26 against the current Swiss European champions Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli. In the second set, the Germans missed nine set balls.
Borger/Sude sovereign
Sandra Ittlinger/Isabel Schneider got off to a good start with a 21:23, 21:14, 15:7 against the Swiss Esmée Böbner/Zoé Vergé-Dépré. In the second group game, the vice world champions Sophie Bukovec/Brandie Wilkerson from Canada were too strong at 22:24, 19:21.
Karla Borger/Julia Sude only had to play once on the first day and beat Emma Piersma/Mexime van Driel from the Netherlands 21:16, 21:18.
Chantal Laboreur and Sarah Schulz lost their game against the European Championship runners-up Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon from the Netherlands unluckily with 21:16, 22:24, 10:15. The two women from Stuttgart were the only one of five teams in the German Volleyball Association to qualify for the main field of the top 16.
The first and second place finishers in each of the four groups for men and women advance to the quarter-finals on August 13. The tournament winners collect 30,000 euros each. For the European couples, the event is also a dress rehearsal for the European Championships in Munich next week.