Three teams from the South American team survived after the conclusion of women’s pool play in Fort Lauderdale

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Carol Solberg and partner Maria Elisa Antonelli eliminated Americans April Ross and Alix Klineman of the #FTLMajor (Photocredit: FIVB)

The conclusion of women’s pool play at the 2018 Fort Lauderdale Major was highlighted by Brazilian wins as three teams from the country bounced back after having lost their first matches in the tournament and advanced to the Round of 24 in Florida.

Agatha Bednarczuk and Duda Lisboa, who had lost to Germany’s Sandra Ittlinger and Kim Behrens, recovered in great fashion with a two-set (21-15, 21-18) victory over Swiss stats Joana Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré. Silver medalists in the 2017 edition of the tournament, the Brazilians still stand strong in the #FTLMajor.

“We had lost our two matches against the Swiss before, so we were determined to win this time,” Agatha said after the match. We knew we needed a win to stay in the tournament and that pushed us to play with the right spirits.”

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Agatha 🇧🇷 on how she & Duda played in their win over 🇨🇭, the pressure of a loser out match & how she likes the new #BeachWorldTour pool format! #FTLMajor @timeagathaeduda https://t.co/Javekbj1mf

Another Brazilian triumph in the morning came by the hands of Carol Solberg and Maria Elisa Antonelli. In a rematch of the World Tour four-star event in The Hague gold medal match, in January, the South American duo knocked American legend April Ross and her new partner Alix Klineman out of the tournament with a straight-set win (21-16, 21-15).

Country-quota winners Carol Horta and Taiana Lima gave Brazil its third victory. The temporary tandem prevailed over The Netherlands’ Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink after three sets (21-10, 22-24, 15-12) to end Keizer’s first-ever Beach Major Series appearance.

 Five other teams also survived from pool stage by winning their Thursday morning matches: Canada’s Taylor Pischke/Jamie Broder, China’s Fan Wang/Xinyi Xia, Finland’s Riikka Lehtonen/Niina Ahtiainen, Germany’s Isabel Schneider/Victoria Bieneck and Russia’s Nadezda Makroguzova/Svetlana Kholomina. The Round of 24 happens on Thursday's afternoon.

Eight duos, all of which won both of their matches on Wednesday, automatically advanced for the Round of 16: Australia’s Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy, Brazil’s Barbara Seixas/Fernanda Alves, Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes/Sarah Pavan, Czech Republic’s Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova, Germany’s Karla Borger/Margareta Kozuch and Kim Behrens/Sandra Ittlinger and US’s Lauren Fendrick/Nicole Branagh and Kelly Claes/Sara Hughes.

First knockout round draw:

Huberli Betschart (SUI) v Wang/Xia (CHN)
Sweat/Ross. (USA) v Carol/Antontelli (BRA)
Bansley/Wilkerson (CAN) v Lehtonen/Ahtianinen (FIN)
Kolocova/Kvapilova (CZE) v Makroguzova/Kholomina (RUS)
Stubbe/Van Iersel (NED) v Taiana Lima/Carol Horta (BRA)
Lahti/Parkkinen (FIN) v Pischke/Broder (CAN)
Davidova/Shchypkova (UKR) v Biecneck/Schneider (GER)
Laboureuer/Sude (GER) v Agatha/Duda (BRA)

That last match-up means one that there will be at least two new teams on podium from last year. Exciting times indeed!

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