João Pedrosa and Hugo Campos will continue to play for a fourth-straight day on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite event held in Saquarema, Brazil, on Saturday, as the Portuguese standouts overcame a difficult start to their main draw campaign and advanced to the tournament’s Round of 12.

The Europeans were among the six teams that advanced from the Round of 18 on Friday and will continue to try to progress through the elimination rounds at the Campo de Aviação on Saturday, when the Round of 12 and the quarterfinals will be held.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Saquarema Elite live on VBTV

The bronze medalists of the season-opening Yucatán Challenge back in March, the Portuguese first got on the court in Brazil on Wednesday, when they got a win to advanced from the qualifier. The Europeans started their main draw campaign on the next day, but couldn’t handle red-hot Cubans Noslen Diaz and Jorge Alayo, dropping their first Pool E match.

After that loss, every match in Saquarema came with the risk of elimination to the Portuguese, who responded well to the challenge and got a pair of wins on Friday to remain alive. In the morning, Pedrosa and Campos faced American Olympians Chase Budinger and Miles Evans in a pool match and prevailed in the tie-breaker (19-21, 21-15, 15-13).

A few hours later, the 24-year-old Portuguese met rising Italians Samuele Cottafava and Gianluca Dal Corso in the Round of 18 and advanced with a clean sweep (21-17, 21-15). In the Round of 12, on Saturday, they will face Dutch Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot, at 10:00 local time (13:00 GMT).

Also coming from the qualifier, Brazilians Renato Lima and Pedro Oliveira were the only other team that needed to win two matches on Friday to advance. The two completed their Pool B scheduled with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) victory over Australian Olympians Mark Nicolaidis and Izac Carracher and then needed all three sets (21-19, 12-21, 15-11) to beat the Chilean Grimalt cousins Marco and Esteban Grimalt in the Round of 18. On Saturday, in the Round of 12, they will meet fellow qualifiers Sven Winter and Lukas Pfretzschner of Germany, at 11:00 (14:00 GMT).

Evandro and Arthur win tie-breaker

Hosts Brazil will have a second team in the Round of 12 as Paris Olympian Evandro Gonçalves and Arthur Lanci defeated Norwegians Hendrik Mol and Mathias Berntsen in the tie-breaker (21-14, 15-21, 15-11) in the Round of 18 and will now face the Argentinean Capogrosso brothers Nicolas and Tomas.

Two other teams needed three sets to win their Round of 18 matches – Dutch Alexander Brouwer and Steven van de Velde, who topped reigning European champions Martins Plavins and Kristians Fokerots of Latvia 2-1 (21-16, 19-21, 15-10) and will now face Diaz and Alayo, and Polish Olympians Michal Bryl and Bartosz Łosiak, who are set to play against Norwegian superstars Anders Mol and Christian Sørum after overcoming Canadians Sam Schachter and Jonathan Pickett 2-1 (21-19, 16-21-, 16-14).

Beach Pro Tour Saquarema Elite – Match Schedule

The sixth and last spot in the Round of 12 went to French qualifiers Calvin Aye and Rémi Bassereau, who took Austrians Julian Hörl and Moritz Pristauz down in straight sets (21-17, 21-17) and will now face reigning Olympic champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Quick links:
Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour
VBTV
Beach Volleyball World Facebook
Beach Volleyball World X
Beach Volleyball World Instagram
Beach Volleyball World YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter