women are pool playing their way to the top

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Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Oris Toth reached the quarter-finals at the #PorecMajor last year – but can they make the second round in China? Photo credit: Andreas Langreiter

It must be the weather…that or it’s the week of the underdog!

Two of the top five seeds in the women’s half of the Xiamen Open face a fight on their hands to reach the second round after falling to shock defeats in their pool matches.

American pair Brooke Sweat and Lauren Fendrick, the number three seeds, lost their first match to 19th seeds from Finland, Riikka Lehtonen and Taru Lahti.

And Italian fourth seeds Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Oris Toth suffered the same fate, going down in their opening pool match to 29th-seeded qualifiers from Austria, Schwaiger and Hansel.

Both teams won their second pool matches but can they do the business in their crucial final pool games to make it through to the next stage – or will there be more drama on the sand in what’s already been a wet, windy and unpredictable week in China.

However, for some winning just comes easy! The other top seeds in the tournament haven’t had a moment of worry so far as they happily blitz through opposition in Xiamen.

Reigning Xiamen Open champions from Switzerland Joana Heidrich and Nadine Zumkehr have won both of their pool matches to put one foot in the second round, as have second seeds Karla Borger and Britta Büthe of Germany.

The question on everybody’s lips at the start of the tournament was ‘could Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross win another World Tour medal?’

Well it’s been so far so good for the Americans. They have barely broken sweat in their opening two matches, triumphing in straight sets twice. In their victory over Slovakians Natalie Dubovcova and Dominika Nestarcova they only conceded a measly 20 points. That’s some damn mighty impressive beach volleyball girls!

The women’s final pool matches and all of the first round knockout ties take place on Friday, so remember to keep an eye on our website for news of all the ups and downs in China

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