Fort Lauderdale, USA, February 12, 2017 - With a medal assured in the women’s competition as two Brazilian pairs have advanced to the semifinals at the $600,000 Fort Lauderdale Major, the South American country is in position to sweep the gold medals at an FIVB World Tour event for the 57th-time.
The Brazilian men completed the first leg of the sweep here Saturday afternoon on the Fort Lauderdale Beach Park center court when ninth-seeded qualifiers Saymon Barbosa and Alvaro Filho defeated eighth-seeded compatriots Evandro Goncalves and Andre Loyola 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) in 39 minutes to win the $40,000 first-place prize.
In the women’s semifinals, Brazil will have fifth-seeded Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda "Duda" Lisboa and second-seeded Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca representing the South American country against pairs from Germany and the United States.
After upsetting top-seeded April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings of the United States in Saturday’s last match in the evening, Agatha and Duda will challenge third-seeded Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude of Germany.
Talita and Larissa, who were part of the Brazilian gold medal sweep at the 2015 FIVB World Tour Finals in Fort Lauderdale, will be meeting 13th-seeded Brooke Sweat/Summer Ross of United States in the other final four match Sunday morning.
Americans Summer Ross (left) and Brooke Sweat seek a Fort Lauderdale medal
Following the morning matches, the medal matches will be played in the early afternoon as the final two pairs compete for the $40,000 first-place prize with the second-place finishers sharing $32,000. In the men’s all-American bronze medal match Saturday, top-seeded Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena defeated 24th-seeded Ryan Doherty/John Hyden 2-1 (14-21, 21-13, 15-10) in 41 minutes.
