The Mammoth is well and truly back. For so many years he was a regular Major Series medalist. It’s hard to believe it was the Poreč Major in 2017 when Alison Cerutti last got his hands on a medal on the Beach Major Series.
Now, with Alvaro Filho by his side, Alison is on the charge once more, demonstrating the kind of form that led him to win the Olympics in 2016. Here in Vienna, the Brazilians stormed back to book their place in a third straight semi-final, coming from behind to knock out World Champions Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Viacheslav Krasilnikov in an epic three-set quarter-final on the Red Bull Beach Arena.
The Russians, who lifted the world title last month, looked on course to reach the last four after a powerful first set display, only for Alison and Alvaro to turn the tables in the second set and then take the tiebreak.
Now the pair have eyes on a place in the final when they take on either Nick Lucena and Phil Dalhausser or Nils Ehlers and Lars Flüggen – the German team they lost to in the semi-finals in Tokyo last week.
In Saturday morning’s other quarter-final, Polish duo Michal Bryl and Grzegorz Fijalek saw off Spaniards Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira in straight sets.
The Poles, who reached the final here on the Danube Island 12 months ago, will now face either Anders Mol and Christian Sørum or Swiss duo Adrian Heidrich and Mirco Gerson in the semi-final.
The semi-finals will take place on Sunday and you can watch every game live on BeachStream
