Lucerne, Switzerland, May 16, 2015 - Led by reigning FIVB World Champions Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen of The Netherlands, eight men’s teams from seven countries have advanced to the quarterfinals of the US$150,000 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Lucerne Open 2015 where the “Elite 8” matches will be played later Saturday on the Lake Lucerne center court.
The eighth-seeded Brouwer and Meeuwsen will be seeking a repeat visit to the semi-finals of an FIVB World tour event this season as the Dutch pair finished second in the 2015 opening stop in China last month at Fuzhou. Brouwer and Meeuwsen posted a 2-0 (22-20 and 21-15) win in 32 minutes earlier Saturday over 26th-seeded Kristo Kollo and Rivo Vesik of Estonia.
The Dutch will play third-seeded Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Konstantin Semenov in the Lucerne Open quarter-finals as the two teams will be meeting for the third-time on the FIVB World Tour with each pair winning one match. Brouwer and Meeuwsen prevailed last season in the Norwegian Grand Slam in Stavanger with the Russians winning a 2013 match in the German Grand Slam in Berlin.
Italy is now guaranteed a spot in the Lucerne Open semi-finals set for Sunday morning as the pairs of the 21st-seeded Ingrosso twins (Matteo/Paolo) and 27th-seeded Alex Ranghieri/Marco Caminati posted early afternoon Round 2 elimination victories over pairs from Russia and Switzerland, respectively.
“Yes, I am surprised that we have advanced this far in the tournament,” said 22-year old Marco Caminati, who is guaranteed his best-ever placement on the FIVB World Tour with his previous top finish being ninth at the 2014 season-ending event in Mangaung, South Africa. “We are playing well and it has been a long week.”
Caminati and Ranghieri have now won six-straight matches after qualifying for the Lucerne Open Main Draw Wednesday with victories over pairs from Switzerland and Poland. To advance to the elimination rounds, the Italians posted pool play wins over Canadian, German and Polish tandems before ousting Philip Gabathuler and Micro Gerson of Switzerland in two sets Saturday.
Other quarter-final matches will have host country favorites and 28th-seeded Nico Beeler/Alexei Strasser of Switzerland challenging fifth-seeded Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera of Spain, and 10th-seeded Murat Giginoglu/Volkan Gogtepe of Turkey meeting 18th-seeded Jackson Henriquez/Jesus Villafane of Venezuela.
With Saturday’s action featuring improved weather conditions after having Friday’s schedule plagued by cool and dame conditions, the inaugural Lucerne Open will conclude Sunday starting with the men’s semi-final matches. In the afternoon the men’s and women’s medal matches will be played. The winning pairs will each share the $11,000 first-place prizes per gender.
Following this week’s play in Switzerland, the men take a week off while the women proceed to the Czech Republic for the US$75,000 Prague Open May 20-24. The men rejoin the women on the international circuit in Moscow May 26-31 for the first of five grand slam stops on the 2015 FIVB World Tour calendar.