Antalya, Turkey, May 12, 2016 - Three of the 16 matches on the US$150,000 Antalya Open women's schedule here Thursday featuring Beach Volleyball pairs from Finland, Germany, Russia, Switzerland and the United States will decide pool titles along with the winners earning a "bye" into the second-round of elimination.
With elimination play in the second annual Antalya Open scheduled for Friday on the either the BeachPark or Akdeniz University courts, the final pool play matches Thursday will help set up the 24-team bracket where three rounds will be played to determine the lineup for Saturday's "final four" contests.
KEY MATCHES
Key matches Thursday between unbeaten pairs has second-seeded Karla Borger/Britta Buthe of Germany being challenged by 15th-seeded Taru Lahti/Riikka Lehtonen of Finland for the Pool B title, 13th-seeded Ekaterina Birlova/Evgeniya Ukolova of Russia meeting fourth-seeded Isabelle Forrer/Anouk Verge-Depre of Switzerland in the Pool D finale and seventh-seeded Katrin Holtwick/Ilka Semmler of Germany playing 10th-seeded Emily Day/Jennifer Kessy of United States for the Pool G crown.
Pairs alone atop their groups with 2-0 records are top-seeded Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst of Germany (Pool A), 14th-seeded Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic, 21st-seeded Vasiliki Arvaniti/Penny Karagkouni of Greece (Pool E), sixth-seeded Ana Gallay/Georgina Klug of Argentina (Pool F) and ninth-seeded Linline Matauatu/Pata Miller of Vanuatu.
DEFENDING CHAMPS & VANUATU
Hermannova and Slukova are the Antalya Open defending champions while the Vanuatu pair has rebounded from a 25th-place finish last week at the Sochi Open in Russia to be in position to win their group and being guaranteed ninth-place finish this week. The week before the Sochi stop, Matauatu and Miller placed fourth in the Brazilian Open in Fortaleza for their best-ever FIVB World Tour finish.