Brazilians and Russians win… again…

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Krasilnikov (left) and Stoyanovskiy have won their second gold of 2019

Red hot Russian pair Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy and brilliant Brazilians Rebecca and Ana Patricia maintained their stunning form by cruising to victory in the Xiamen four-star event at the weekend.

Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy made it two golds in their last three tournaments by taking first place in the men’s competition, beating Spain’s Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira in the final.

As for Rebecca and Ana Patricia, gold was their third success of what’s already promising to be a season to remember, having already won events in Qinzhou and in The Hague.

Russian revolution

For the Russian men, the Red Bull boys dropped just one set through the week on their way to victory as they saw of the challenge of top teams including new duo Alison Cerutti and Alvaro Filho and Dutchmen Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen before beating the Spaniards in the final.

Stoyanovskiy secured his second Xiamen gold having won the event last season with Igor Velichko. The pair have now medaled in four of their five tournaments in the 2019 season.

The podium was completed by Qatari team Cherif Samba and Ahmed Tijan, who beat Enrico Rossi and Adrian Carambula in the bronze medal match.

Back-to-back golds for rising stars

For Rebecca and Ana Patricia – the 20-year-old who has won a host of youth titles with Duda – their 2019 gets better and better.

All smiles on the women's podium and Ana Patricia and Rebecca take the top prize

They won gold in Qinzhou, silver in Yangzhou and placed fourth in Las Vegas before taking gold in The Hague. Their victory here in Xiamen was their third this season in just five tournaments and they did so without dropping a set against some top-class opponents.

Starting out in qualification, the pair saw off the challenge of compatriots Maria Antonelli and Caroline Salgado in the pool play, before beating world number ones Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson in the quarter-finals and Summer Ross and Sara Hughes in the semis.

The final turned out to be their toughest match, but the Brazilians were still good enough to deny Czech world number 2 team Barbora Hermannová and Marketa Sluková 25-23, 26-24.

In third place were Australians Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy, who beat Hughes and Ross to win bronze.