Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 16, 2016 - Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai recovered from a first set setback in the men’s Beach Volleyball semi-final match at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games here late Tuesday evening to advance to the gold medal match Thursday after mid-night to play top-seeded and heavily-favored Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt of Brazil.
Eighth-seeded Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Konstantin Semenov of Russia were the Italians’ victim as Lupo and Nicolai posted a 2-1 (15-21, 21-16, 15-13) win in 56 minutes in the seventh meeting between the two teams internationally. Lupo and Nicolai now have won the last two matches with the Russians to take a 4-3 lead in the series, including a gold medal victory May 8 at the Sochi after Krasilnikov and Semenov had won an earlier pool play contest over the Italinas in the event.
Krasilnikov and Semenov broke from a 4-4 tie in the first set with a three-point run to take command and led 13-9, 17-11 and 20-15 at the side switches. The second set was almost a mirror image, but with Lupo and Nicolai breaking from a 1-1 tie to lead 5-2, 8-6, 12-9, 16-12 and 20-15 at the side switches.
The Russians broke away early in the third set by leading 3-2, 6-4 and 8-7 at the first three side switches. Lupo and Nicolai recovered with a three-point run to never trail again. Krasilnikov and Semenov tied it at 12s, but the Italians spurted again with two-straight points and won the contest on the second match point.
In the first men’s semi-final in the early evening Tuesday, Alison and Bruno overcame mid-match flaws to ignite a Copacabana celebration by posting a 2-1 (21-17, 21-23, 16-14) win in 59 minutes over Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of The Netherlands.
