Osaka, Japan, May 22, 2009 - The defending champions from Brazil and a new American pair are the first two teams to advance to this week’s women’s SWATCH FIVB World Tour semi-finals after winning a pair of matches here Friday at the US$190,000 Keihan/SMFG Japan Open in the Nakanoshima district. Top-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil advanced to their third-straight SWATCH FIVB World Tour “final four” in Japan’s “Second City” and 51st overall while the 26th-seeded Angie Akers and Tyra Turner claimed a spot in the medal rounds for the first-time as the Americans are playing in their initial international Beach Volleyball event together. Juliana and Larissa scored a 21-16, 15-21 and 15-10 in 54 minutes over fifth-seeded Brazilian rivals Talita Antunes and Maria Antonelli and Akers and Turner posted a 21-17 and 21-14 victory in 35 minutes over 14th-seeded Maria Tsiartsiani and Vassiliki Arvaniti of Greece to earn a “day off” Saturday when four matches will be played to determine the last two “final four” berths. For each team, Saturday’s idleness will be different as the Brazilian “would love to play” while the Americans “need a day for rest.” As Juliana offered, ”We don’t like sitting around watching. We like playing, so hopefully, the day off will not hurt our momentum that we have gained the past two days. For sure we’ll practice, but we would much rather be playing.”
Juliana and Larissa have now posted a 16-3 match mark for Osaka SWATCH stops where the Brazilians have won their last nine matches, including a 21-16 and 21-9 win in the 2008 Keihan/SMFG Japan Open over China’s Jia Tian and Jie Wang, the silver medal winners at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. “We like playing here,” said Juliana. “We especially like winning our first four matches this year as compared to last year when we had to play three matches in the elimination rounds to reach the semi-finals. We look forward to Sunday as we would like to win our third medal in Osaka.” Brazilians have won the last 10 stops in Osaka after teams from the United States captured the first two gold medals followed by success by Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst after their bronze medal performance at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games where the Australians defeated a tandem from America in the finals. Juliana and Larissa placed second in the 2005 Osaka event where Shaylyn Bede and Ana Paula Connelly defeated their Brazilian rivals twice enroute to the gold medal. Last year, Juliana and Larissa were defeated in the third-round of the winner’s bracket by Aussie Olympians Tamsin Barnett and Cook before the Brazilians rebounded with five-straight wins.
Fourth-seeded Renata Ribeiro and Vanilda Leao of Brazil face 13th-seeded Marleen Van Iersel and Sanne Keizer of the Netherlands in an opening match Saturday with the winners playing Tsiartsiani and Arvaniti for a spot in Sunday’s morning’s semi-finals against Juliana and Larissa. With Akers and Turner waiting in the semi-finals, seventh-seeded Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig of Germany challenge the second-seeded Salgado sisters (Carolina and Maria Clara) of Brazil with the victors facing Talita and Antonelli. |
