A big all-Brazilian three-setter was just one of the highlights in Friday’s thrilling women’s action at the Brasilia Elite on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour that shaped up the quarterfinal line-up for Saturday. Olympic champions Ana Patricia Ramos & Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) knocked out top-seeded compatriots Thamela Coradello & Victoria Lopes, and in some of the other interesting storylines of the day, Dutch qualifiers Emi van Driel & Wies Bekhuis delivered two upsets of strong opponents to make the last eight, while Austrian sisters Dorina Klinger & Ronja Klinger also outplayed two of the high seeds in the tournament to advance.

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In the second elimination round, 10^th-seeded Ana Patricia & Duda battled it out for a 2-1 (21-18, 19-21, 15-13) victory over Thamela & Victoria. Duda led the way with four aces and 19 kills in attack, while Ana Patricia added 20 points, including three kill blocks. On the other side of the net, Thamela raised five kill blocks towards a match-high 27 points, while Victoria put away 17. What made the biggest difference in Ana Patricia & Duda’s favor were their opponents’ unforced errors.

In the quarterfinals, the Paris 2024 champs will meet the Klinger sisters. On Friday, the 12^th-seeded Austrians hammered out a couple of huge upsets to progress to the last eight. First in the round of 18, they beat the sixth-seeded American pairing of reigning world champion Kelly Cheng with Molly Shaw in a 2-1 (21-16, 13-21, 16-14) thriller. Then in the round of 12, they outclassed classy fifth-seeded Brazilians Carol Solberg & Rebecca Cavalcanti by a convincing 2-0 (21-19, 21-16). However, Carol & Rebecca also moved on to the quarterfinals as one of the two best performing round of 12 losers.

Van Driel & Bekhuis, seeded 23^rd in the 24-team main draw, who started their Brasilia campaign from Wednesday’s qualifications, also put together two solid upsets on Friday on the way to Saturday’s quarterfinals. The Dutch started their day with a 2-0 (23-21, 21-18) victory over the ninth-seeded Swiss pairing of Paris 2024 bronze medalist Tanja Huberli with Leona Kernen, and followed up with a nail-biting 2-1 (12-21, 22-20, 20-18) comeback win over 13^th-seeded Valentina Gottardi & Reka Orsi Toth of Italy.

Terese Cannon & Megan Kraft will provide the next challenge in Van Driel & Bekhuis’s Brasilia journey. On Friday, the third-seeded Americans started off with an emphatic 2-0 (21-15, 21-16) shutout of Brazil’s Talita Antunes & Taiana Lima and backed it up with a hard-earned 2-1 (21-10, 19-21, 15-10) victory over fourth-seeded Tina Graudina & Anastasija Samoilova of Latvia.

Seventh-seeded Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalists Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson of Canada cruised to a convincing 2-0 (21-14, 21-14) shutout of Italy’s Claudia Scampoli & Giada Bianchi to set up a quarterfinal appointment with Carol & Rebecca.

Meanwhile a tough 2-1 (18-21, 21-16, 15-13) comeback against Switzerland’s Anouk Verge-Depre & Zoe Verge-Depre propelled second-seeded American Olympians Taryn Brasher & Kristen Nuss to the next round, where they will face the other team that qualified despite losing in the round of 12, Gottardi & Orsi Toth.

Saturday’s women’s action, serving off at 12:00 local time (15:00 UTC), will offer both the quarterfinals and the semifinals, so by the end of the day, the two medal matches for Sunday will be set up.

VW Beach Pro Tour Brasilia Elite: schedule and results

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