The women’s tournament was won by the ‘Straussis’, who battled and overcame Julia Radl and Anja Dörfler in straight set (21-13, 21-13). Franziska Friedl andEva Pfeffer upset Dorina Klinger and Norwegian Oda Ulveseth to secure bronze in Vienna – 21-15, 25-27, 15-12.
“We’re so excited that we did what was expected of us as favorites,” Nadine reacted. “We were under pressure, but we dealt well with it. I think we were very solid during the entire final while Julia and Anja made a few mistakes and that was the difference.”
Semenov/Leshukov and Kholomina/Voronina prevail in Russia
Beach volleyball restarted in Russia this weekend, becoming the third sport in the country to return to motion after the break caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The first tournament of the Russian Tour in 2020 has held in Moscow and saw Konstantin Semenov and Ilya Leshukov win among the men and Svetlana Kholomina and Maria Voronina prevail among the women.
Leshukov, a Rio 2016 Olympics semifinalist, and Leshukov met reigning world champion Oleg Stoyanovskiy and temporary partner Aleksandr Kramarenko in the final. They used their chemistry to their favor to win 21-15, 18-21, 18-16. Alexey Gusev and Pavel Shustrov took bronze after they downed Aleksei Arkhipov and Dmitrii Veretiuk in three sets (15-21, 21-18, 15-11).
The women’s tournament saw a lot of teams set up with different formations than the ones that compete at the World Tour and one of them, formed by Voronina and Kholomina, won gold after a 21-14, 21-18 triumph over Voronina’s regular partner Mariia Bocharova and 16-year-old Elizaveta Gubina. Kholomina’s World Tour teammate Nadezda Makroguzova joined Daria Rudykh to take bronze following a 16-21, 21-14, 15-7 win against Yulia Abalakina and Ksenia Dabizha.
Borger/Müller and Beztien/Westphal on top in Germany
The first edition of the German Die Beach Liga also came to an end this week in Düsseldorf and the teams of Karla Borger/Svenja Müller and Max Betzien/Dirk Westphal emerged victorious after an entire month of competition.
Borger, a Rio 2016 Olympian who regularly partners with Julia Sude, and Müller ended the tournament on top following their 21-12, 21-13 victory over Melanie Gernert and Sarah Schulz. Leonie Körtzinger and Sarah Schneider ranked third as they defeated Isabel Schneider and Anna-Lena Grüne 21-19, 21-17.
Beztien and Westphal were awarded as the best among the men after they downed Alexander Walknehorst, one of the founders of the event, and Sven Winter in three sets in the final match of the tournament. Milan Sievers and Theo Timmermman finished third after their 21-18, 22-20 victory over the Wolf brothers Georg and Peter.
