Yeah, I don't like doing this a quick-set, but my home internet connection really left a lot to be desired this morning as I tried to do a regular report. I saw bits and pieces of maybe five matches before I finally said the hell with it.
So we'll paint with broad strokes. Today the women played the first three rounds of the knockout stage, setting up the semis tomorrow (but the finals aren't until Sunday…what's wrong with this picture?). All four US women's teams made the knockout stage, with three of them earning a bye into round two. The first to play were Lauren Fendrick and Brittany Hochevar, going up against Italy's Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti. This was one of the matches of which I managed to see bits and pieces. The two sides looked quite well matched, with a slight edge to the Italians. Cicolari and Menegatti may just be the most versatile team going. Neither is outstanding at either of the classic roles (blocker and defender), but they both can do both competently. They're also right about the same size, which surely helps. They withstood a late second-set surge from the Americans to win (21-16, 21-23, 15-11), but the long day ahead of them was too tall a hill to climb. Later in the day they met two more Americans, Summer Ross and Emily Day, who had surprised and impressed by winning their pool. Ross and Day got revenge for their countrywomen, taking the match by (14-21, 21-19, 15-13).
Next we turn our attention to Jennifer Fopma and Brooke Sweat, who took on Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel. I didn't see any of this match, but suffice it to say Fopma and Sweat sealed off a very strong tournament for the USA, winning (21-15, 21-18) to advance to the quarterfinals. The big disappointment for the Americans today came from April Ross and Kerri Walsh, who lost to Brazil's Maria Antonelli and Agatha Bednarczuk by (21-17, 22-20). This was another "bits and pieces" match for me. From what I saw, Walsh looked sorta gassed. Which is perfectly understandable, given that this was her first tournament in almost a year. I was impressed by how she looked earlier in the week (albeit against lesser competition), so I'm sure she'll return to form before too long. Certainly by the time these two become a regular partnership later this season.
The clock struck midnight for Fopma/Sweat and Day/Ross in the quarterfinals, as they lost to the teams of Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst and Liliane Maestrini and Barbara Seixas De Freitas respectively. But 5th rank is a career-best finish for all four of them, so they should go away from this one with their heads held high in anticipation of the Long Beach Grand Slam later this month. Joining Ludwig/Walkenhorst and Lili/Seixas in the final four are the world champs Xue Chen and Zhang Xi, and Brazil's Talita Da Rocha Antunes and Taiana Lima, who evidently just had a bad week last week at worlds.
Men's side, I saw bits and pieces of a match pitting Alexander Huber and Robin Seidl aginst Alexander Huber and Robin Seidl, the Austrians winning two close sets. Both sets were oddly streaky — there never really was a sideout pattern in either one. Points came in threes and fours. Also saw a little of the match with Phi Dalhausser and Sean Rosenthal taking on Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo, but not enough to really say anything about it. The Italians won in 3 sets, but since those two teams and the American team of Todd Rogers and Ryan Doherty all won twice in the pool, Dalhausser/Rosenthal still won it on aggregate points.
I wonder if Swiss fans for cheer for Phil Dalhausser at all, considering he was born in Switzerland. Probably not.
The men also played the first round of the knockout phase today, but I didn't see any of it. Here's the pairings for round 2:
Nicolai/Lupo vs. Pedro/Bruno
Saxton/Schalk vs. Erdmann/Matysik
Alison/Emanuel vs. Gibb/Patterson
J Smedins/Samoilovs vs. Huber/Seidl
Nummerdor/Schuil vs. Dalhausser/Rosenthal
Doppler/Horst vs. Brouwer/Meeuwsen
Ricardo/Alvaro vs. Kantor/Losiak
Dollinger/Windscheif vs. Herrera/Gavira
Loads of good matches there. Hopefully I'll be able to see some of them.
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