Four-time SWATCH FIVB World Tour champions Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca are “feeling very comfortable” about playing in Italy as the young Brazilians continued their winning ways here on Monday during the opening women’s pool play rounds in this week’s US$600,000 Foro Italico Beach Volley Grand Slam.
Seeded first in the 32-team Main Draw at the Parco del Foro Italico courts, Juliana and Larissa opened Pool A play by posting a 21-17 and 21-14 win in 36 minutes over 32nd-seeded Elisa Cella and Valeria Rosso to extend their personal winning streak for matches in Italy to 13 consecutive victories since losing a 2004 elimination match in Milano.
“We are really enjoying our stay in Rome,” said the 26-year old Juliana, who was the most outstanding player on the women’s SWATCH FIVB World Tour last season. “We have had a lot of success in Italy with two gold medal finishes in Milan (2005) and Modena (2006). We feel very comfortable with the surroundings and the people are very friendly in this country.”
By improving their overall Italian match mark to 17-2, Juliana and Larissa will finish pool play with matches on Wednesday and Thursday against 17th-seeded Lenka Hajeckova/Hana Klapalova of the Czech Republic and 16th-seeded Louise Bawden/Becchara Palmer of Australia, respectively. The Brazilians have never played the Czech tandem while Juliana and Larissa are 3-0 against Bawden and Palmer, including a gold medal victory over the Aussies last August in Stare Jablonki, Poland.
In addition to winning their pool Juliana and Larissa must also post a better record and point/set ratio than the four teams in Pool B if the Brazilians want to maintain their No. 1-seed when the 24-team elimination bracket competition begins on Thursday afternoon. Currently second-seeded Jen Kessy and April Ross hold a one point lead over Juliana and Larissa.
Kessy and Ross started their play on Tuesday with a 21-18 and 21-12 victory in 34 minutes over 15th-seeded Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr of Switzerland. The Americans close pool play with matches against the Dutch teams of 31st-seeded Roos Van der Hoeven/Jantine van der Vlist Wednesday and 18th-seeded Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel Thursday.
The top two-seeded teams have challenged each other in the first two events this season in Brazil and China. Juliana and Larissa scored a two-set semi-final win over the Americans in the Brasilia opener last month enroute to winning the gold medal by defeating Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig of Germany in the finals.
Seeded first in the 32-team Main Draw at the Parco del Foro Italico courts, Juliana and Larissa opened Pool A play by posting a 21-17 and 21-14 win in 36 minutes over 32nd-seeded Elisa Cella and Valeria Rosso to extend their personal winning streak for matches in Italy to 13 consecutive victories since losing a 2004 elimination match in Milano.
“We are really enjoying our stay in Rome,” said the 26-year old Juliana, who was the most outstanding player on the women’s SWATCH FIVB World Tour last season. “We have had a lot of success in Italy with two gold medal finishes in Milan (2005) and Modena (2006). We feel very comfortable with the surroundings and the people are very friendly in this country.”
By improving their overall Italian match mark to 17-2, Juliana and Larissa will finish pool play with matches on Wednesday and Thursday against 17th-seeded Lenka Hajeckova/Hana Klapalova of the Czech Republic and 16th-seeded Louise Bawden/Becchara Palmer of Australia, respectively. The Brazilians have never played the Czech tandem while Juliana and Larissa are 3-0 against Bawden and Palmer, including a gold medal victory over the Aussies last August in Stare Jablonki, Poland.
In addition to winning their pool Juliana and Larissa must also post a better record and point/set ratio than the four teams in Pool B if the Brazilians want to maintain their No. 1-seed when the 24-team elimination bracket competition begins on Thursday afternoon. Currently second-seeded Jen Kessy and April Ross hold a one point lead over Juliana and Larissa.
Kessy and Ross started their play on Tuesday with a 21-18 and 21-12 victory in 34 minutes over 15th-seeded Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr of Switzerland. The Americans close pool play with matches against the Dutch teams of 31st-seeded Roos Van der Hoeven/Jantine van der Vlist Wednesday and 18th-seeded Sanne Keizer/Marleen Van Iersel Thursday.
The top two-seeded teams have challenged each other in the first two events this season in Brazil and China. Juliana and Larissa scored a two-set semi-final win over the Americans in the Brasilia opener last month enroute to winning the gold medal by defeating Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig of Germany in the finals.
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