Stare Jablonki, Poland, July 6, 2013 – Ricardo Santos and Alvaro Filho will be out to reach the men’s final at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, but will need to knock out defending champions Emanuel Rego and Alison Cerutti on Sunday to do so.
The teams know each other well; Emanuel and Ricardo were partners for a number of years and won the 2003 World Championships and the 2004 Olympic gold. At Rome 2011 Alison and Emanuel beat Ricardo and his then partner Marcio Araujo in the gold medal match.
Ricardo and Alvaro are in only their first season as a team and have already won bronze at the Shanghai Grand Slam. Emanuel and Alison have suffered a mixed season and while they won the World Cup Finals, they missed the opening two tournaments of the season and needed to build momentum quickly at Mazury 2013.
The other semifinal is an all-north European affair and fresh territory for Germany’s Jonathan Erdmann and Kay Matysik and The Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen.
Erdmann and Matysik played together at the 2009 and 2011 editions, but for the Dutch duo it is their first appearance at a World Championships.