Juliana and Larissa went into the game with an amazing 60-0 win record on the tour, having triumphed in the last 11 stages – three in 2011 – and survived undefeated since March 13 last year. However, Talita and Antonelli's 2-1 (16-21, 22-20, 15-13) comeback success meant the golden duo narrowly missed out on going a whole year unbeaten on Brazilian soil.
"I cannot deny it is special defeating them, because [they're in] an amazing moment and had not being defeated for a long time in Brazil," Talita said. "We realised they had ups and downs during this tournament, but we knew that everything would be different in the final match."
Juliana and Larissa still lead the Brazilian ranking with 1,560 points. Talita and Antonelli are second with 1,320, the duo having risen above Taiana Lima and Vivian Cunha (1,280), who finished third at the event in Curitiba after defeating Renata Ribeiro and Priscilla Lima 2-0 (22-20, 21-15).
Meanwhile, Olympic medallists and top seeds Marcio Araujo and Ricardo Santos won their third gold medal this season in the men's contest after beating Benjamin Insfran and Bruno Schmidt 2-1 (21-18, 17-21, 15-13). Third place went to Bruno De Paula and Fernando Magalhaes, who overcame Fred Doria and Roberto Pitta in straight sets (21-19, 21-18).
"The results we are having now are a consequence of the hard training we did in pre-season," Marcio said. "Benjamin and Bruno are very talented players and we had to use our experience to prevail in the final points of the match." The Olympic medallists have a safe lead in the ranking with 1,520 points, followed by Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego, with 1,240. De Paula and Magalhaes now have 1,160 points.
Prior to the senior event, Curitiba hosted the fourth stop of the Banco do Brasil U-21 Tour. In the male tournament, Joao Paulo, known as JP, and Victor Pallis won their first tournament as a team by defeating the Carvalhaes brothers, Marcus and Guto, in straight sets (21-19, 21-18). Rebecca Silva and Carolina Horta returned to the top spot of the podium after beating Sandressa Lorandi and Thais Ferreira 2-0 (21-19, 21-16) in the women's event.
Brazil's top players will be back on court over the next two weekends in the Queen of the Beach and King of the Beach tournaments. The Banco do Brasil Tour resumes in Balneario Camboriu, with the U-21 tournament scheduled for March 14-16 and the senior tournament following from March 17-20.
