Brasília, Brazil, April 24, 2009 - The winningest countries in the history of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour will compete for the women’s gold medal at the US$380,000 Banco do Brasil presents the KIA Open as Americans Jen Kessy and April Ross will play Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa France of Brazil after both won semi-final matches here Friday. Brazil and the United States have combined to win 352 of the 415 men’s (182) and women’s (170) gold medals awarded on the international circuit as Saturday’s final will feature the two countries playing for a women’s SWATCH FIVB World Tour title for the 74th-time with the United States holding a 43-30 edge.
The fifth-seeded Juliana and Larissa, who dropped into the contender’s bracket after dropping a 20-22, 21-14 and 15-11 decision in 54 minutes to Kessy and Ross Thursday afternoon, opened play Friday with a 21-14 and 22-20 win in 34 minutes over the ninth-seeded Schwaiger sisters (Doris and Stefanie) of Austria. Kessy and Ross, who will be competing in their fourth-straight SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal match with title finishes at the end of last season in Thailand and China, advanced to their sixth international finale together with a 21-16 and 21-15 win in 37 minutes over 11th-seeded Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig of Germany. The Americans are now 4-0 against the Germans internationally. Like Juliana and Larissa, the Germans had to win a contender’s bracket quarter-final match Friday morning with a 21-16, 21-23 and 18-16 victory in 69 minutes over sixth-seeded Renata Ribeiro and Vanilda Leao of Brazil. Goller and Ludwig had to play the extra match to reach their fourth SWATCH FIVB World Tour “final four” after losing Thursday afternoon to Branagh and Youngs 21-19 and 21-17 in 39 minutes. Juliana and Larissa, who now have a 4-2 match mark against Branagh and Youngs on the SWATCH circuit, also hold a 4-2 advantage in the series with against Kessy and Ross. In the first-ever meetings between Friday’s finalists at a 2007 FIVB stop in Russia, the Americans defeated Juliana and Larissa in the winner’s bracket quarter-finals before dropping the St. Petersburg’s gold medal match 23-21 and 21-17. “We are looking forward to playing the Americans again,” said Larissa. “We had a good match with them Thursday, but made too many errors in the second and third sets. This is an important match, especially with Juliana returning to international match after recovering from knee surgery. I know she will be ready to play Friday.’ While Juliana and Larissa will be looking for their 22nd SWATCH gold medal with the KIA Open being their 60th FIVB event together, Kessy and Ross will be seeking their fourth international title after winning their first gold medal at the 2007 Norwegian Grand Slam in Stavanger. With the KIA Open being the first event on the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar, Juliana and Larissa will be seeking their fourth gold medal in a season-opening stop on the international circuit after winning 2005 in China, 2006 in Italy and last year in Australia where the Brazilian women claimed all three medals with Branagh and Youngs placing fourth in Adelaide.
After the Brasília stop, the 2009 women’s SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar continues with a double gender event in the China (Shanghai, April 28-May 3) before single gender events in Japan (Osaka, May 19-24) and Korea (Seoul, May 26-31). |
