Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner stun Brazil

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Perusic (left) and Schweiner were all smiles after their shock win over last year's champions

Stop press! Last year’s Fort Lauderdale Major champions Alvaro Filho and Saymon Barbosa are out of the tournament!

The 2017 champs were stunned by young Czech pair Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner, who advanced to the main draw of a Beach Volleyball Major Series event for the first time in their careers.

“It’s amazing, of course we were the underdogs and there was no pressure but we are delighted,” said 23-year-old Perusic. “They didn’t play their best, we did and that’s enough to make it through the main draw.”

The European duo lost to the Brazilians in a tight match in Moscow last season but got revenge here in Florida with a brilliant straight sets victory.

And it came after Ondrej and David has struggled to get through their first qualification match earlier in the day against Canadians Nusbaum/Plantinga.

“We did not expect this after the way we played in the first game,” explained Perusic. “However we knew we had nothing to lose. It was a let-off in the morning, we got a bit lucky and we made it in the end.”

Having dumped out last year’s champions the pair, who won their first World Tour medal with silver in Montpellier September, are now focusing on maintaining their level of performance in the pool play – but they wouldn’t mind giving the Red Bull Beach Arena a miss!

“For sure it would be fun to play on the Center Court against one of the home teams but we would rather play on court 17!” joked Ondrej. “It’s great that we are able to compete against the best like we just did, but we have nothing to lose. We just hope this win isn’t our last win of the tournament.

“And we wouldn’t mind being underestimated again.”

Their next challenge? A first pool play match against the reigning world champs! Good luck boys!

The Czech pair were too good for the Brazilians