Eight Women’s Teams Advance at Mazury Open

Eight teams from seven countries advanced from the SWATCH FIVB World Tour qualifier here Tuesday to the “money” rounds at the US$380,000 Mazury Open as the Hotel Anders resort hosts the women on the international Beach Volleyball circuit for the second-straight year.

The Mazury Open women’s competition continues Wednesday with Main Draw play leading to Saturday’s podium placement matches. The men’s Country Quota matches were played Tuesday with the qualifier Wednesday and the opening Main Draw rounds Thursday. The men’s medal matches will be Sunday as the winning teams share the $30,000 first-place prizes this weekend.

The 10th women’s event on the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar, the Mazury Open will utilize the “traditional” double-elimination bracket play for the first time in nine weeks. At four of the last five international stops in Norway, Switzerland, Russia and Austria, the format featured pool play and single-elimination Main Draws. A 48-team single-elimination bracket format was used in France two weeks ago.

Only three of the top eight-seeded teams advanced from the final elimination round as 33 tandems started play Tuesday. Advancing as expected to the Mazury Open Main Draw were second-seeded Stephanie Pohl/Okka Rau of Germany, third-seeded Louise Bawden/Becchara Palmer of Australia and fifth-seeded Stine Andreasen/Lotte Vestergaard of Denmark.

Seed-break-throughs were posted by ninth-seeded Vivian Cunha/Angela Vieira of Brazil, 10th-seeded Heike Jensen/Alice Rohkamper of Australia, 17th-seeded Madelein Meppelink/Margo Wiltens Netherlands, 20th-seeded Carolina Costagrande/Valeria Rosso of Italy and 22nd-seeded Jill Jasbar/Sabine Swoboda of Austria.

After upsetting 11th-seeded Hiromi Suzuki and Shinako Tanaka of Japan 21-18 and 21-18 in 37 minutes, Jasbar and Swoboda advanced to their first SWATCH Main Draw with a 21-15 and 21-17 win in 34 minutes over 27th-seeded Natalia Dubovcova and Dominika Nestarcova of the Slovak Republic. Swoboda qualified for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with Sara Montagnolli, but had to withdraw due to back problems.

Costagrande, one of the top Volleyball players in Italy, and Rosso opened play Tuesday with a 21-15 and 21-18 win in 40 minutes over 13th-seeded Deborah Giaoui and Eva Hamzaoui of France before netting their first-ever SWATCH FIVB World Tour Main Draw berth with a 18-21, 21-17 and 15-12 win in 51 minutes over fourth-seeded Susan Blundell and Anna Scarlett of New Zealand.

Jensen and Rohkamper became the first of two Australian teams to advance to Wednesday’s Main Draw with wins over 23rd-seeded Ayumi Kusano/Mutsumi Ozaki of Japan (21-19, 21-15 in 39 minutes) and seventh-seeded Lucy Boulton/Denise Johns of Great Britain (15-21, 21-17, 15-12, 52). The Aussies will earn FIVB money for the first-time in three attempts together this season..

Meppelink, who is playing in her first-ever SWATCH FIVB World Tour event, and Wiltens scored wins over 16th-seeded Ragnhild Aas/Siri Bjorkesett of Norway (21-18, 21-19, 36) and the top-seeded Nystrom twins (Emilia and Erika) of Finland (19-21, 21-16, 17-15, 53). Wiltens is playing in only her fourth SWATCH event after qualifying earlier this season in Shanghai with Ilke Meertens.

With two Brazilian Country Quota wins Monday over teams that had medaled on the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Tour, Vivian and Vieira earned their third Main Draw berth this season via the qualifier with victories over 24th-seeded Elodie Li Yuk Lo/Natacha Rigobert of Mauritius (21-6, 21-4, 24) and eighth-seeded Merel Mooren/Marloes Wesselink Netherlands (21-17, 21-13, 39).

Host Poland will have three teams in the Main Draw, including Karolina Sowala/Monika Brzostek, Katarzyna Urban/Joanna Wiatr and Renata Bekier/Daria Paszek. Last week, Sowala and Brzostek won the Polish national championships by defeating Urban and Wiatr 19-21, 21-19 and 15-12 in the finale. Bekier and Paszek will represent Poland in two weeks at the FIVB’s world championships for players under the age of 19 in Alanya, Turkey (August 19-23).

The 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Tour features $7.2-million in prize money and continues through the fall with the men’s final event in China and the women’s last stop in Thailand. Following Stare Jablonki, three more double gender events remain in Europe with stops in Norway, Finland and The Netherlands. The women conclude their European schedule at Barcelona in September.