Sao Paulo, Brazil, September 24, 2014 - On an opening day of relatively comfortable wins for the tournament's top seeds, undoubtedly the biggest surprise of the FIVB World Tour's Sao Paulo Grand Slam came in the men's draw from Brazilian qualifiers Allison Francioni and Gustavo Carvalhaes.
The young Brazil pair took out Latvia's number four seeds Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins 2-0 for a victory Francioni even had trouble believing.
"I am still trying to figure out what just happened," he said afterwards. "We went on court really focussed, and everything worked out well, our block, the defence, everything, and we had the nerves to finish the match."
The Latvia pair not only finished 2013 as the World rankings leaders, but they are also leading the rankings again in 2014, and won a silver medal in the tour's last Grand Slam even in Stare Jablonki, Poland.
They presented quite a target for the home pair, who actually enjoyed having nothing to lose. "When we got the information that our first math was against the Latvians we thought 'they have the responsibility to win' and we played without worries, just enjoying the moment," said Carvalhaes.
The Brazil pair won a bronze medal earlier this year in the U23 World Championships in Myslowice, Poland and have been making a mark at national events in Brazil, registering a victory against the 2004 Olympic champions Ricardo and Emanuel who were in their first match after re-forming their partnership after a five-year absence.
They also came into the FIVB Sao Paulo Grand Slam qualifying tournament on the back of their first bronze medal at national level, which they won last Sunday in Niteroi.
"We are enjoying our good moment," Carvalhaes said yesterday when they made in into the main draw with a 2-0 win over France’s Jean-Baptiste Dagueere and Yannack Salvetti. "The past few months we have been getting great results at our national tournaments. It is a dream com true for me to be able to participate in such huge tournament, and I am sure that Allison feels the same."
They entered the Grand Slam event looking for experience, but with a big upset win already to their credit in Sao Paulo, who knows what the next part of the 'dream come true' might be for Brazil's next big beach partnership.