The World Championship warm-up in Australia worked very well for the German beach volleyball team. After nine matches with German participation on the first two days of the World Cup, the German team’s record in Adelaide is: nine wins, no losses – and a total of just three sets lost.
Lea Kunst and Melanie Paul lost in two sets, but they can be very happy about that – as they have reached the knockout stage of the best 32 teams after winning their two matches by 2-1 sets. In their World Cup debut, Paul/Kunst lost in the first round 11:21 against Switzerland’s Annique Niederhauser and Leona Kernen, but then reflected on their skills and won the next set 21:18, 15:11. At the end of the day on Saturday they also defeated the home team of Taliqua Clancy and a boisterous cheering Jana Milutinovic 2:1 (21:14, 23:25, 15:6).
Henning/Wüst are one lap further on
Paul Henning and Lui Wüst also have two wins to their name. They were the first German duo to be challenged on Friday and won a very exciting match 2-1 (15:21, 31:29, 19:17) against Argentina’s Juan Bautista Amieva Tarditti and Maciel Bueno Torres. In their second match on Saturday, Henning/Wüst had to overcome much less resistance in an easy 2-0 win (21:11, 21:14) against Nicaragua’s Rubén Mora and Dany López to advance to the main draw.
The other five German teams have one win each. Olympic silver medalists Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler gave Canada’s Samuel Schachter and Jonathan Pickett no chance with times of 21:16, 21:18. “It was a successful night for us, a good start to the World Cup,” Ehlers said. On Friday, Lukas Pfretzschner and Sven Winter won against Austrians Christoph Dressler/Philipp Waller in two hard-fought sets with 21:19, 21:19. In the women’s category, Anna Grüne and Sandra Ittlinger scored a narrow 2-0 (21:19, 22:20) against France’s Alexia Richard and Lezana Placette.
“It’s a pleasure to play here”
Joint favorites Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann, third in the 2022 World Cup, won against Argentina’s Brenda Ailen Churin and Morena Marisa Abdala with a much safer scoreline of 2-0 (21:18, 21:11). “We were a little nervous before the game, but we played well and fought,” said Cinja Tillmann. Svenja Müller was impressed by the view: “It’s really cool to play here. There’s a lot going on and the large number of German fans really creates a great atmosphere.”
Louisa Lippmann and Linda Bock also took almost no risks in the 2-0 win (21:13, 21:18) against María González and Allanis Navas Sanchez (Puerto Rico). As Lippmann/Bock, like Tillmann/Müller, are in Group H, they will meet in the group final on Monday (5:30 CET) – meaning the German duo’s first defeat is already on the cards. But that didn’t matter for the rest of the tournament.
The two top ranked teams and the four best third ranked teams in twelve groups consisting of four men and women immediately advanced to the round of 32 best teams. The remaining third place winners will compete for the remaining spots in the lucky loser round.
