Elite category Pro Tour tournament in beach volleyball – qualification, women – 1st round: Helena Havelková (right), Markéta Nausch Sluková (center) (Czech Republic) – Esmée Böbnerová (left), Zoé Vergéová-Dépréová (not pictured) (Switzerland .), 31 May 2023, Ostrava.
Ostrava – All three Czech beach volleyball couples in the qualification of the Pro Tour Elite tournament in Ostrava were eliminated right at the start. Jakub Šépka and Tomáš Semerád took the lead against the Brazilian duo of George and Andre, but eventually lost in a tie-break. Like Anna and Kateřina Pavelkova, Markéta Nausch Sluková and Helena Havelková did not even win a set.
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Šépka and Semerád erased the loss in the first set thanks to four blocks and took over the lead, which they easily maintained after several unforced errors by the Brazilians. In the second, Andre and George bounced back and equalized for the young Czechs. The tie-break was decided by Andre's block, after which the bronze medalists from last year's World Championships in Rome took a 13:11 lead, which they had already secured.
Nausch Sluková and Havelková only got more into the game in the second set against the Swiss Esmée Böbnerová and Zoé Vergéová-Dépréová. After two aces by Nausch Sluk and a block by Havel, they worked out three set points, but the Swiss gained the advantage with four points in a row and finally won the set 23:21.
The Pavelkova twins made a sharp debut on the elite circuit against Melissa Humanaová-Paredesová and Brandie Wilkersonová. In the first set, last year's under-18 European champions won only two points after bad serves by the Canadian women. The talented Czechs entered the second round significantly better, but soon the experience of the 2019 world champion Humanaová-Paredesová and the silver medalist from last year's World Cup Wilkersonová, who got together before this season, showed itself.
Four teams always advance from the qualification. , which will be supplemented by twelve directly deployed. In addition to the winners of the last Elite 16 tournament in Uberlandia, Ondřej Perušič and David Schweiner, the promising Kryštof Jan Oliva and Tadeáš Trousil and the domestic women's number one Barbora Hermannová and Mariá-Sára Štochlova also made it to the main competition thanks to a wild card.
Pro Tour Elite category beach volleyball tournament in Ostrava – qualification:
Men:
1. round: George, Andre (Brazil) – Šépka, Semerád (CZ) 2:1 (-15, 15, 12).
Women:
1. round: Böbnerová, Vergéová-Dépréová (Switzerland) – Havelková, Nausch Sluková (Czech Republic) 2:0 (15, 21), Humanaová-Paredesová, Wilkersonová (Can.) – A. Pavelková, K. Pavelková ( CR) 2:0 (2, 7).
