Lausanne, Switzerland, May 5, 2017 – Home favourites Alvaro Filho and Saymon got off to a strong start at the Finals of the South American Beach Volleyball Tour in Maringa, Brazil, on Friday, beating Uruguay’s Mauricio Vieyto and Marco Cairus 2-0 (21-13, 21-19).
Seven teams are competing in the Finals and they are divided into two groups.
The Uruguayans were their own worst enemies in the first set, committing errors that made life easy for the Brazilian pair, but after making adjustments, they made life harder for the favourites in the second set.
“We played against two great young Uruguayan players, but we were able to do well and win the match,” Alvaro Filho said. “Every time we represent Brazil, we do it in the best way and we will always try to win. It will be a very tough tournament, with Argentina, Chile and Venezuela fielding World Tour teams.”
To their credit, the Uruguay pair came back strongly in their second game of the day against Venezuela, picking up where they left off in the second set against Brazil and dominating Jonathan Golindano and Carlos Rangel 2-0 (21-12, 21-11) as they seek to finish second in Group A.
In Group B, cousins Esteban and Marco Grimalt representing Chile were the outstanding performers of the day, dominating both their matches.
In the morning, they breezed past Paraguay’s Batillana/ Godoy 2-0 (21-12, 21-11) before repeating their performance with an equally convincing result (21-13, 21-11) against Colombians Cuello and Rivas.
Argentina’s Julian Azaad and Nicolas Capogrosso came close to matching the heroics of the Chileans with two 2-0 wins of their own. First, they disposed of the Colombian duo 21-15, 21-11, before overcoming Paraguay’s Goyo/ Roger 21-17, 21-13.
The big clash in Group B will come on Saturday when Argentina face Chile. The winner will advance directly to the semi-finals while will face off against the third-placed team in Group A.
You can find all the results here.