Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 9, 2016 - Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Konstantin Semenov “breezed” to their second-straight Rio 2016 Olympic Games pool play win here late Tuesday evening by defeating the Chilean Grimalt cousin in two sets on the sands of iconic Copacabana.
With their 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) Pool E win in 37 minutes over Esteban and Marco Grimalt, Krasilnikov and Semenov will play Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst of The Netherlands Thursday for the group title and the fifth-seed in the 16-team elimination bracket field.
Tuesday’s meeting was the fourth with the Chileans internationally with Krasilnikov and Semenov now holding a 3-1 edge in the series. The first-time the two teams met was on Copacabana March 9 of this year with the Russians defeating the Grimalts in a three-set pool play match at the Rio Grand Slam.
Nummerdor and Varenhorst, who posted their second Pool E win earlier Tuesday by defeating Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel of Poland 2-1 (21-17, 19-21, 15-9) in 47 minutes, will be playing Krasilnikov and Semenov for the fourth-time internationally. The Dutch lead the series 2-1 with the last match won by the Russians at the 2015 Long Beach Grand Slam in the United States.
Grimalts still have an opportunity to advance to the elimination rounds and must defeat Fijalek and Prudel Thursday. The Poles have won both international meetings with the Chileans with the last match between the two teams at the 2014 Sao Paulo Open in Brazil.
