| | |
Moscow, Russia, July 17, 2009 - Two teams each from Brazil and Germany will compete for the women’s gold medal at the US$600,000 Grand Slam Moscow 2009 presented by SEAT after the Beach Volleyball pairs from the South American and Europe countries each won two matches here Friday. With the second- and fourth-seeded teams from the United States and Brazil, respectively, being eliminated Friday morning by teams from Austria, the afternoon quarter-finals featured the upset of top-seeded Talita Antunes and Maria Antonelli of Brazil by eighth-seeded Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler of Germany 21-17 and 21-18 in 40 minutes. With their two wins Friday, including a 21-17 and 21-16 win in 42 minutes over 20th-seeded Vivian Cunha and Angela Vieira of Brazil, Holtwick and Semmler will face their third-straight team from the South American country by challenging third-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil. Holtwick will be playing in their third SWATCH semi-final with a second-place finish last September in Poland where the Germans were defeated by the Brazilian Salgado sisters (Carolina and Maria Clara) in the gold medal at Myslowice. In the opening semi-final match Saturday morning at Poklonnaya Gora (Victory Park), seventh-seeded Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig of Germany will challenge fifth-seeded Renata Ribeiro and Vanilda Leao of Brazil. With Goller and Ludwig holding a 3-0 edge in the SWATCH series against Renata and Leao, Holtwick and Semmler will be meeting Juliana and Larissa for the first-time. With two German teams in the semi-finals to deny Brazil a possible podium sweep for the first time this season and 18th-time since the start of the women’s SWATCH FIVB World Tour in 1992, it marks the second-time the European country has had two pairs in a women’s “final four”. The first time two German women’s teams appeared in a SWATCH FIVB World Tour semi-final was last July in France where Stephanie Pohl and Okka Rau won the Marseille gold medal with Helke Claasen and Antje Roder placing fourth. The title is Germany’s only women’s gold medal in 192 SWATCH events. Goller and Ludwig advanced to their sixth SWATCH semi-final in 47 starts by scoring a 21-18 and 21-15 in 45 minutes over the 11th-seeded Schwaigers (Doris and Stephanie), who advanced to the quarter-finals by ousting fourth-seeded Shelda Bede and Ana Paula Connelly of Brazil 22-24, 21-19 and 15-11 in 71 minutes. After 21st-seeded Barbara Hansel and Sara Montagnolli posted a 11-21, 21-19 and 15-13 win in 54 minutes over Kessy and Ross in the morning, Renata and Leao defeated the Austrians 21-17 and 21-17 in 39 minutes to advance to their second SWATCH FIVB World Tour semi-final this season. Renata and Leao opened play Friday with a 21-13, 19-21 and 15-9 win in 49 minutes over 18th-seeded Marie-Andree Lessard and Annie Martin of Canada. Juliana and Larissa, who have won two SWATCH gold medals this season and placed second to Kessy and Ross at the world championships two weeks ago in Stavanger, Norway, opened play Friday by eliminating 16th-seeded Ying Huang and Xi Zhang of China 21-13, 19-21 and 21-19 in 67 minutes. The Brazilians advanced to their 54th SWATCH FIVB World Tour semi-final since 2004 with a forfeit win over sixth-seeded Angie Akers and Tyra Turner of the United States after winning the first set 21-14. |
