Jūrmala, July 19, LETA. Domestic beach volleyball duo Aleksandrs Samoilovs / Jānis Šmēdiņš and Tīna Graudiņa / Anastasija Kravčenoka won the ERGO Open 2020 second stage finals in Majori on Sunday.
These two duos also triumphed in the first stage in Ventspils two weeks ago.
Samoilovs / Šmēdiņš, who were placed with the second number, defeated the first pair of the tournament Mārtiņš Pļaviņš / Edgars Točs 2-1 (21:14, 25:27, 15:10) in the tense final.
In the second set of the final match, Samoilovs / Šmēdiņš did not use several match balls, thus the fight continued in the third set, in which Pļaviņš / Točs acknowledged the superiority of the opponents.
In the fight for the bronze in the duel of two Lithuanian duos Patriks Stankevičs / Audrjus Knašs (6th) defeated Arturs Vasiljevs / Roberts Juhņevičs (10th) 2-1 (21:23, 21:16, 17:15).
Before that, in the semi-finals Pļaviņš / Točs won Vasiljevs / Juhņevičs 2-0 (21:19, 21:12), but Samoilovs / Šmēdiņš won 2-0 (21:18, 21:15) over Stankevičs / Knas.
The only surprise for the men in the main tournament could be the result of the quarter-finals in the match in which Vasiljevs / Juņevičs defeated the fourth pair of the tournament – Mikhail Samoilov / Alexander Solovej.
The main favorites for the women in the title match of Graudiņš and Kravčenoka were played by Lithuanian Ieva Dumbauskaite / Gerda Grudzinskaitė with 2-0 (21:18, 21:10), who had the third number.
Also in the prize was the second number of the tournament Varvara Brailko and Anete Namiķe, who won the Estonian duo Helena Hollas / Lisa Somets in a bronze match with 2-1 (20:22, 21:16, 15: 8), which were sown with the sixth number.
In the semi-finals Graudiņa / Kravčenoka defeated the Estonians 2-0 (21:17, 21:11), but the Lithuanian duo defeated Brailko / Namiķi 2-0 (21:17, 21:15).
41 teams had applied for the second stage of the championship in the men’s competition, and 27 teams in the women’s competition.
The continuation of the season includes stages in Saulkrasti (July 23-25), where only men will play, in Daugavpils (August 8-9) and Cēsis, where the final is scheduled for August 14-16.
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