Flint/Day, Kolinske/Evans Through to Yangzhou Main Draw

FIVB Yangzhou Four Star

• Oct. 9-14, 2018
• Yanzhou, China
• Schedule/Results

The qualifying round of the Yangzhou Four Star is complete with eight teams per gender moving into the main draw.

Teams from seven countries, including two Russian pairs, advanced through on the men’s side.

Taras Myskiv/Valeriy Samoday, which began the day with a sweep in the Russian country quota match, outdid France’s Youssef Krou/Edouard Rowlandson in Round 2 to move on. Countrymen Maxim Sivolap/Artem Yarzutkin went the distance with Japan’s Takumi Takahashi/Yusuke Ishijima (17-21, 21-17, 15-7) to claim their spot.

Two other teams advanced with tiebreak victories: Americans Miles Evans/Bill Kolinske and Poland’s Jakub Szalankiewicz/Maciej Rudol. The Polish side bookended the match with set wins, while the Americans rallied after dropping the opening set 18-21.

Americans David Lee/Mark Burik won their opening round match over China’s Eraili Nu/Cong Yang in straights, but stumbled against Australia’s Cole Durant/Damien Schumann in Round 2 (21-15, 21-11).

• Sergiy Popov/Iaroslav Gordieiev (Ukraine)
• Taras Myskiv/Valeriy Samoday (Russia)
• Romain Di Giantomasso/Jeremy Silvestre (France)
• Jakub Szalankiewicz/Maciej Rudol (Poland)
• Miles Evans/Bill Kolinske (USA)
• Cole Durant/Damien Schumann (Australia)
• Maxim Sivolap/Artem Yarzutkin (Russia)
• Nuttanon Inkiew/Sedtawat Padsawud (Thailand)

There were just seven women’s qualifying matches, with six decided in straight sets. Americans Kelly Claes/Kerri Walsh Jennings were due to participate in the qualifiers but received a bye to the main draw to round out the field.

Thailand’s Varapatsorn Radarong/Khanittha Hongpak rallied for a tiebreak win over Ukraine’s Diana Lunina/Maryna Samoday (3-21, 21-18, 15-12).

Betsi Flint/Emily Day made it through from the United States with 21-16, 21-15 win over China’s Wang/Wen, while Brazilians Angela Lavelle/Carol Horta, Taina Silva Bigi/Victoria Lopes Periera and Ana Patricia Silva/Rebecca Cavalcanti also advanced.

• Kurokawa/Sato (Japan)
• Ana Patricia/Rebecca (Brazil)
• Velentyna Davidova/Ievgeniia Shchypkova (Ukraine)
• Bing Bai/Lvwen Yuan (China)
• Angela/Carol Horta (Brazil)
• Taiana/Victoria (Brazil)
• Betsi Flint/Emily Day (USA)

Pool play is slated to begin at 8 p.m. ET.

Qatar’s Ahmed Tijan/Cherif Younousse are the No. 1 seed on the men’s side. Brazil’s Pedro Solberg/Bruno Schmidt and a trio of Russian teams: Nikita Liamin/Igor Velichko, Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Konstantin Semenov/Ilya Leshukov round out the top five.  In all five Russian teams alongside three from Brazil and three from the USA are among the main draw field.

Brazil’s Barbara/Fernanda are the top seeded women, followed by Americans Alix Klineman/April Ross (No. 2), Sarah Hughes/Summer Ross (No. 3) and Emily Stockman/Kelley Larsen (No. 5) and fourth-seeded Canadians Sarah Pavan/Melissa Humana-Paredes. All told five American teams and six Brazilians teams highlight the 32-team field.