FIVB – Doha, Qatar, November 13, 2015 – Lars Fluggen and Markus Bockermann will take on Nick Lucena and Phil Dalhausser in the Qatar Open final on Friday after both won their semifinals.
Fluggen and Bockermann needed to dig deep to defeat USA’s John Hyden and Tri Bourne 2-1 (21-14, 16-21, 15-12) in the first of the semifinals. It means they have the chance to match their compatriots Tim Holler and Jonas Schroder, who won the first edition of the Qatar Open in 2014.
Reaching the finals means that the pair keep up their stellar form in their best season together. They opened the season by winning gold at the Fuzhou Open and followed up by twice winning silver.
“It was so tough, it was a really long season and started in April,” Bockermann said. “I’ve never played such a long season and it going to be a tough match at the end of a tough season.
“It was so hard. It was really hot and we struggled in the side-out a little, but we had a good plan to break the Americans. We lost the last time and now we won and it feels good.”
Lucena and Dalhausser also needed three sets to reach their fifth final of the season, but rallied from losing the first set to beat France’s Edouard Rowlandson and Youssef Krou 2-1 (15-21, 21-16, 15-7).
“We started off pretty bad and we missed about 10 serves,” Lucena said. “Phil took over in the third and that is how we have been working.”
The FIVB Qatar Open is last of three open events on the 2015 portion of the 2016 FIVB World Tour calendar and started on Monday at the Qatar Beach Volleyball Academy in the Al Gharafa Sports Club in Doha. It finished on Friday with the semifinals and medal matches taking place.