The long road for Brouwer/Meeuwsen

It’s tough being a beach volleyball team sometimes. You win back-to-back medals at two high-profile tournaments and then find yourselves in the qualification at the one of the biggest events of the year.

So spare a thought for Olympic bronze medalists Alex Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen, who after winning silver in Gstaad and then the same color in the four-star event in Tokyo at the weekend, needed to rush to Vienna to take part in the first round of qualification on day one.

Thankfully, the top-seeded team in the quali eased through to their second match in qualification, that will take place on Wednesday, after a straight sets win over Czech pair Robert Kufa and Martin Melmuka 21-12, 21-17.

And the same story can be said of recent Edmonton three-star gold medalists Nico Beeler and Marco Krattiger. The Swiss duo saw off the challenge of Turkey’s Murat Giginoglu and Volkan Gogtepe also in straight sets.

The team from Switzerland face another tough match when they tackle Aussies Damien Schumann and Cole Durant in Wednesday’s second round for a place in the main draw.