Gstaad Five Star – Beach Major Series
- Gstaad, Switzerland
- July 9-15, 2018
- Preview
- Schedule/Results
- Live Streaming
The men’s podium at the Gstaad Major will be full of new faces as the last of the previous three years’ medalists fell in the quarterfinals on Friday.
The final four teams that will fight for the Gstaad Major podium positions are: No. 12 Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo (Italy), No. 15 Anders Mol/Christian Sorum (Norway), No. 6 Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira (Spain) and No. 21 Taylor Crabb/Jake Gibb (USA).
The Italians will face the Spaniards, while the Norwegians and Americans will meet for a spot in the finals.
Americans Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena, who have medaled each of the last two years (gold in 2017, silver in 2016), will have to settle for fifth place in 2018 after falling to Nicolai/Lupo 21-18, 21-18.
Dutch duo Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen, who won bronze in 2015, also lost in the quarterfinals, succumbing to Herrera/Gavira in tiebreak (19-21, 21-16, 15-12).
Brazil’s Pedro Solberg, who won gold in 2016, and partner Bruno Schmidt, who won gold in 2015, Poland’s Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak, the 2017 silver medalists, and Latvia’s Janis Smedins/Aleksandrs Samoilovs, the 2016 bronze medalists, all lost in the second elimination round.
Crabb/Gibb went the distance en route to the semifinals, dropping their opening set of Round 3, before advancing in tiebreak. It was the pair’s first match of the day after its Round 2 opponents suffered an injury.
The day began for the men with the second elimination round, cutting the field from 16 to eight. Two of the matches went to tiebreak, with Mol/Sorum and Brouwer/Meeuwsen moving on.
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