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Join Date: Sep 2007
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Women's World Series13 laden with upsets
Upsets were plentiful in the opening day of the women's US$350,000 World Series13 main draw in Marseille, France. After two rounds of play in the winner’s bracket, just four of the top eight seeded teams emerged unbeaten, although the others still remain in contention for the medal rounds, which will be held on Saturday. Two of the teams inflicting damage on the top seeds had come from Tuesday's qualifying tournament.
Switzerland's duo of Muriel Gressli and Nadine Zumkehr, just 21 and 23 years old respectively, found Marseille to be preferable to Paris. In last month's Grand Slam event in Paris, the duo lost their first match as a tandem, but in Marseille so far they have an undefeated match mark. On Tuesday they defeated two teams to advance from the qualifier, then followed that up with two upset victories in Wednesday's play. First they handed second-seeded Maria Antonelli and Vanilda Leao of Brazil a rare loss, as the Brazilians have finished fifth in two of the last four Grand Slam events. Following that they defeated 18th-seeded Daniela Gattelli and Lucilla Perrotta of Italy, 14-21, 21-17, 15-13. Each of the last three wins by the Swiss have been three-set matches in which they lost the first set.
Ester Alcon and Olga Matveeva from Spain were another team which had to play in the qualifier event just to get into the main draw, then followed that up with a pair of upset wins. In the morning action they won a long battle with the 11th-seeded team from Georgia, 21-18, 22-24, 15-11 before sending the sixth-seeded Cuban team of Dalixia Fernandez and Tamara Larrea to the contender's bracket with a 21-18, 25-23 victory.
The pair of wins ensures that both Spanish players have tied or surpassed their career bests in a SWATCH FIVB World Tour event. Matveeva, who is originally from St. Petersburg, Russia but currently resides in Madrid, will face off against 14th-seeded Alexandra Shiryaeva and Natalya Uryadova of Russia in their first match Thursday.
The Russian duo had earlier notched an upset win over a German team fighting to maintain their current position for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Seeded third, Stephanie Pohl and Okka Rau of Germany are in a close battle with fellow countrywomen Reike Brink-Abeler and Hella Jurich, but lost to Shiryaeva and Uryadova 23-21, 21-16.
Deborah Giaoui and Eva Hamzaoui of France, seeded ninth, defeated eighth-seeded Milagros Crespo and Imara Esteves Ribalta of Cuba 21-18, 25-23. That loss meant that four of the top eight seeds fail to advance to third round of the winner's bracket, including two teams from Cuba.
Top-seeded Brazilian sisters Carolina and Maria Clara Salgado swept both of their opponents in the opening rounds of the World Series13, as they strive to become the third different Brazilian women’s team to stand atop the podium in Marseille in the last three years. In the 10-year history of the women's events in Marseille, Brazil has claimed five gold medals while the United States has also won five. This year there are no American teams competing in Marseille.
The World Series13, the ninth of 16 double-gender events on the 2008 SWATCH FIVB World Tour, features the women's medal matches on Saturday, with the men's competition concluding on Sunday. The winning teams in each gender will share the $28,000 first-place prizes.
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