Liliane Maestrini and Angela Vieira became the fourth Brazilian side in the main draw after they won their qualification match at the smart Grand Slam, Berlin on Wednesday.
The pair were pushed hard by Canadian duo Kacie MacTavish and Julie Rodrigue, but eventually won 22-24, 21-13, 15-12. The victory makes it two wins in two days after they won the Brazil country quota match on Tuesday.
“Yesterday was a really tough match, as it always is in the Brazil country quota matches,” Liliane said. “Yesterday was one stage, today is the next stage and tomorrow is the next tournament.
“Today the Canadians served really well and we have already have had to be at our best in this tournament.”
With three other Brazilian teams in the main draw there is the chance that they may be drawn against one of their compatriot teams. However, no matter whom they are placed in a pool with, they are well aware that it will be tough to reach the knockout stages.
“Tomorrow we will come up against some very good teams and have to play at our best and we need to play better than we did yesterday,” Liliane added.
Also into the main draw are Monika Brzostek and Kinga Kolosinka. The Polish pair faced two matches to reach pool play, but won both in straight sets to progress.
In the first they beat Norway’s Ragnhild Aas and Maiken Bomvik and then silenced the local support with a 21-19, 21-16 victory over Germany’s Christine Aulenbrock and Chantal Labourer.
“It was a good result and this is the first time we have qualified for the main draw this season,” Brzostek said. “We are so happy and so glad we came here. It (the second match) was much harder than the first match against Norway as they had support and it made it quite tough.”
Having secured their first pool play place of 2012, Brzostek and Kolosinka believe they will be able to continue to enjoy their time in Berlin.
“I think we were pretty nervous here because if you lose you just go home,” Brzostek said. “Now though we have at least three matches in the pool. So I think tomorrow we will start with no stress and just have fun.”
The smart Grand Slam Berlin is the seventh of nine mixed gender tournaments on the 2012 FIVB SWATCH World Tour and the eighth women’s tournament of the year. The women’s final is scheduled to take place on Sunday July 15 and the winning side will leave with the largest share from a purse of $300,000 per gender.
The Berlin tournament is the penultimate before the London 2012 Olympic Games in which 24 women’s will play for gold at London’s Horse Guard’s Parade.
The women’s calendar is set to culminate with the Bang Saen Thailand Open powered by PTT in Thailand which runs from October 23-28.
