Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan stunned third seeds Ilya Leshukov and Konstantin Semenov in three sets and topped Pool C in the FIVB US$300,000 Swatch Major Gstaad Five-Star on Wednesday.

Straight in the action in the Swiss event after finishing a disappointing 17th in the World Championships in Hamburg, the 14th seeds delivered the big blow by beating the Russians 23-21, 19-21, 15-13 in 46 minutes.

Earlier in the day, they handed a straight-set 21-16, 21-19 defeat to Chilean Grimalt Cousins Esteban and Marco, who have won two out of their titles this season, including the Katara Beach Open Four-Star.

With two victories in as many matches, Younousse and Tijan go to the top of the group and qualified for second eliminator, which guarantees them to improve upon their 17th place finish last year.

While Younousse and Tijan had tight finish in the first two sets, they began putting pressure on Leshukov and Semenov early in the tie-break set and went 4-3 and 5-4 up. Soon after converting the advantage into 6-4, they began controlling the proccedings.

The Russians, ninth in the world championships, bronze medallists in the Warsaw Four-star and The Hague Four-Star, did manage twice to reduce to three-point gap to just one point (8-9 and 12-13).

Both Younousse and Tijan forced the side over on these two occasions and collected next point to stay out of trouble. This was their second victory in as many clashes with the Russians, with the previous one, a three-setter, coming in the Moscow Four-Star last year.

Younousse and Tijan started the tournament well and displayed their superb game to post their easy straight triumph over the Chileans in the morning, their second in three matches. Both the teams were involved in an Itapema Four-Star thriller last year when the Qataris prevailed over by 27-25, 29-27.

However, Esteban and Marco evened the career win-loss record during the Tokyo Three-Star with a three-setter 16-21, 21-18, 15-10 victory in the quarter-final. But this year, this was their first clash and the Qatari duo took 40 minutes to seal their supremacy.

النتائج
Pool C
Round 1
Cherif Samba / Ahmed Tijan Qatar (14) def. Esteban Grimalt / Marco Grimalt Chile (19) 21-16, 21-19 (0:40)
Cherif Samba / Ahmed Tijan Qatar (14) def. Ilya Leshukov / Konstantin Semenov Russia (3) 23-21,19-21, 15-13 (0:46)