No stopping the hosts on home sand

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A familiar sight: Alison/Bruno celebrating! Photocredit: Sebastian Marko.

Just like the outcome at the Fort Lauderdale Major back in February, Brazil reigned supreme this weekend as the South American nation secured both gold medals at the four-star Rio Open.

Alison/Bruno secured the men’s title while the women’s gold went the way of Fort Lauderdale silver medalists Agatha/Duda.

Following their surprise exit in the quarterfinals in Florida three months ago, Alison/Bruno cruised to the top of the podium on home sand to make it back-to-back golds in Rio after their Olympic success last summer.

The Swatch World Tour Finals champs saw off the challenge of Polish pair Kantor/Losiak in the final, which wrapped up a perfect week of results and which also saw them avenge a defeat against Brunner/Patterson in Fort Lauderdale by winning their semifinal.

“It’s been a good week for us after starting the season slowly in the United States,” Bruno told the FIVB. “We started getting our act together once we returned to the Brazilian tour and played our best this week against the world’s elite teams.”

Joining the Brazilians and Poles on the podium were European Champions from Italy, Lupo/Nicolai who battled to a gripping 2-1 win over Brunner/Patterson in the bronze medal match.

Agatha and Duda followed up their silver in Fort Lauderdale with gold in Rio.

New partners Agatha/Duda continued their rich of vein of form by following up their Fort Lauderdale silver by topping the podium with a thrilling 2-1 win over Canadians Humana-Parades/Pavan.

The Brazilians recovered from losing the second set to triumph 15-13 in the decider to give the pair their second successive podium place and deny the Canadians a top spot in what was only their second tournament together.

“I am excited for our team as our expectations are high for each event,” Agatha told the FIVB. “Duda is an amazing talent and our partnership continues to improve with each match.”

Brazil were denied two spots on the podium when Fernanda/Barbara were beaten by Czech duo Hermannová/Slukova in the battle for bronze. The Czechs were in great form to secure third place by winning in straight sets.

Attention on the Tour now turns to Russia with the three-star event in Moscow next up, kicking off on May 31, but our focus remains on the Poreč and Gstaad Majors, which are just over a month away! Bring them on!