A pair of comeback wins in elimination matches held on Friday took Olympic champions Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos from the Round of 18 to the quarterfinals of this week’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite event held in Saquarema.

Playing in front of their home fans at the Campo de Aviação this week, the Brazilians are one of eight teams to remain alive as the women’s tournament enters its final stretch on Saturday, when the quarterfinals and semifinals will be held. The medal matches are scheduled for Sunday in Saquarema.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Saquarema Elite live on VBTV

Competing for just the second time at the international level since their victory at the Paris Olympics last August, Duda and Ana Patrícia certainly got the extra reps they were looking for this week as each of the four matches played by the Brazilians in Saquarema went to three sets – they won three of them.

On Friday, the Olympic champions had to come back twice to progress in the tournament, advancing two rounds with three-set victories – they defeated French Olympians Clémence Vieira and Aline Chamereau 2-1 (19-21, 21-15, 15-6) in the Round of 18 and topped Americans Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft also in the tie-breaker (18-21, 21-15, 15-12) in the Round of 12.

In the quarterfinals, scheduled for Saturday, at 12:00 local time (15:00 GMT), the Brazilians will face FIVB World Ranking leaders Cinja Tillmann and Svenja Müller of Germany, who played just once on Friday and took Italians Giada Bianchi and Claudia Scampoli down in three sets (23-21, 18-21, 15-9) in the Round of 12.

Another Italian duo, the one of Valentina Gottardi and Reka Orsi Toth, also needed a pair of wins to make it to the quarterfinals on Friday. The two overcame two Brazilian duos, beating Andressa Cavalcanti/Tainá Bigi 2-0 (21-12, 21-19) in the Round of 18 and topping Thamela Coradello/Victoria Lopes also in two sets (21-17, 21-19) in the Round of 12. They will now play against Americans Kelly Cheng and Molly Shaw, who eliminated Paris Olympic silver medalists Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson of Canada with a three-set (24-22, 14-21, 15-7) victory in the Round of 12.

Americans and Brazilians gain a second life

Despite their defeats in the Round of 12, Cannon/Kraft and Thamela/Coradello also advanced to the quarterfinals as the two best teams to not win their matches. The Americans will play compatriots Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher, who moved forward after they overcame the Swiss Vergé-Dépré sisters Anouk and Zoé in two sets (21-11, 21-16).

Beach Pro Tour Saquarema Elite – Match Schedule

The Brazilians will have Latvian Olympians Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova as their next opponents. In order to make it to the quarterfinals, the Europeans needed to defeat the home team of Carol Salgado and Rebecca Cavalcanti in the Round of 12, which they did in straight sets (21-19, 21-11).

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