Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan lost the first eliminator and bowed out of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, presented by comdirect and ALDI Nord at the Am Rothenbaum Stadium in Hamburg, Germany, on Thursday.
A sudden drop in the second set saw the fourth seeds suffer a 18-21, 15-21 defeat at the hands of Phil Dalhausser, the former world and Olympic champion, and Nick Lucena of the USA in 39 minutes.
The first set was quite close and the strong Americans, who have won nine out of 16 finals on the Tour, controlled the crucial points well to clinch it in 19 minutes.
However, the winners exerted early pressure to force errors from the rivals in the beginning of the second and raced 10-3 clear. The Qatari team, who have had three bronze medals in less than two years and are looking for the breakthrough victory, attempted to claw back their way into the match through keeping the ball with good defence.
Lucena and Dalhausser knew that they did not have to give much freedom and used their vast experience of 38 events as a team and eventually sealed the win at 21-15. The errors of Younousse and Tijan (14 to 6) also proved their undoing.
Winner’s Bracket
Round 1
Anders Mol / Christian Sorum Norway (1) def. Philipp Bergmann / Yannick Harms Germany (26) 21-13, 21-13 (0:38)
Martins Plavins / Edgars Tocs Latvia (23) def. Vitor Felipe / Pedro Solberg Brazil (24) 21-19, 21-18 (0:37)
Billy Allen / Stafford Slick United States (29) def. Evandro Goncalves / Bruno Oscar Schmidt Brazil (16) 21-19, 21-18 (0:38)
Daniele Lupo / Paolo Nicolai Italy (8) def. Bahman Salemi / Arash Vakili Iran (36) 21-16, 16-21, 15-7 (0:43)
Alison Cerutti / Alvaro Filho Brazil (20) def. Sam Pedlow / Sam Schachter Canada (14) 21-18, 21-14 (0:39)
Julius Thole / Clemens Wickler Germany (12) def. Alexander Brouwer / Robert Meeuwsen Netherlands (19) 23-21, 21-19 (0:53)
Nikita Liamin / Taras Myskiv Russia (15) def. Clemens Doppler / Alexander Horst Austria (22) 21-14, 15-21, 16-14 (0:45)
Phil Dalhausser / Nick Lucena United States (6) def. Cherif Samba / Ahmed Tijan Qatar (4) 21-18, 21-15 (0:39)
Viacheslav Krasilnikov / Oleg Stoyanovskiy Russia (3) def. Ondrej Perusic / David Schweiner Czech Republic (28) 21-13, 29-27 (0:42)
Taylor Crabb / Jake Gibb United States (7) def. Adrian Gavira / Pablo Herrera Spain (9) 21-16, 21-17 (0:37)
Adrian Carambula / Enrico Rossi Italy (45) def. Mirco Gerson / Adrian Heidrich Switzerland (35) 21-11, 21-13 (0:27)
Robin Seidl / Philipp Waller Austria (32) def. Grant O’Gorman / Ben Saxton Canada (30) 22-24, 21-15, 15-8 (0:46)
Ilya Leshukov / Konstantin Semenov Russia (5) def. Piotr Kantor / Bartosz Losiak Poland (18) 21-13, 21-17 (0:35)
Tri Bourne / Trevor Crabb United States (13) def. Nils Ehlers / Lars Fluggen Germany (39) 15-21, 21-19, 15-10 (1:00)
Andre Loyola / George Wanderley Brazil (17) def. Aleksandrs Samoilovs / Janis Smedins Latvia (11) 17-21, 21-15, 17-15 (1:02)
Michal Bryl / Grzegorz Fijalek Poland (2) def. Cole Durant / Damien Schumann Australia (33) 21-16, 21-19 (0:38)
This was the third match between the two teams. Younousse and Tijan had clinched the first clash in Doha last year when they claimed the first bronze medal of the Tour in the Four-Star Katara Beach Open through a three-set thriller 21-19, 19-21, 15-13.
Earlier this year, they had the second meeting in the same tournament but this time, the Americans got the better with a comeback 13-21, 21-17, 15-9 victory.
While the Qatari team was making their debut in this World Championships, Yonousse had contested in two previous editions with Jefferson Santos Pereira and finished an impressive fifth (2015) and ninth (2017). They must be quite dejected after having to leave the tournament in the round of 32.