GASTAAD, SWITZERLAND — Unbeatable Brazilians Eduarda ‘Duda’ Santos Lisboa and Ana Patricia Silva maintained their hot streak by winning their first Beach Pro Tour Elite title of the season in Gstaad.
The newly-crowned World Champions were made to work for their first-placed cowbells one kilometer above sea level in the Swiss Alps, but secured top spot on the podium thanks to a 2-1 (21-19, 20-22, 15-10) win over fellow Brazilians Barbara Seixas and Carolina Solberg Salgado.
Having won the world title in Rome, the pair have now won 15 matches in a row, a run which started by winning the third-place match in the Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 tournament in Jurmala, Latvia.
For Silva, this title – secured in front of a sell-out crowd in the Swiss sunshine – was the blocker’s first in Gstaad.
She said: “We’ve played them many times before and it’s always been very difficult. The teams know each other very well so it takes a battle to win every single point. I’m very happy with what we showed here. We’ve done great things over the past few weeks and it’s been very important for our team and the sequence of our work.”
Duda, who has now won back-to-back events at the Swiss mountain venue after triumphing with Agatha Bednarczuk last year, said: “I’m so happy about this victory. It’s our second win as a team and that shows we’re building a strong team, which is very special. I have to thank our club Praia Clube, our coaching staff and Ana for that.”
Australian Olympic silver medalists Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho Del Solar secured the third place on the podium winning their first-ever cowbell trophies in the process.
The Aussies won a rollercoaster third-place match again Latvia’s Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka in three sets, coming out on top 22-20, 22-24, 15-9.
“It’s everyone’s dream to have a cowbell, it’s such a unique and special event,” Del Solar said afterwards. “The semi-final taught us that you can’t take your foot off the pedal but we stayed in there and stayed strong and stuck it out and stuck through it.”
Clancy and Del Solar’s next engagement will be the Beach Pro Tour Challenger event in Espinho next week, which runs 14-17 July.
The next port of call on the Elite 16 level is Hamburg, where the iconic Rothenbaum Stadium awaits the world’s best in the German capital of beach volleyball between 10-14 August.
FIVB Media Release
Photo credit: FIVB
