- At the start of the group stage of the beach volleyball tournament in Königsplatz in Munich, Tanya Huberley and Nina Brunner beat the German duo Kira Wakenhurst / Luisa Liebmann 21:19, 21:9.
- Anouk Verge Debre and Minya Bentelli defeated Ukrainian twin sisters Inna and Irina Makhno 23:25, 21:13, 15:11.
- Esmée Böbner and Zoé Vergé-Dépré also won their opening match against Valentyna Davidova and Diana Lunina (UKR) (21:14, 21:11).
The defending champion made a successful start to the group stage of the European Championships in Munich. Tanya Huberley and Nina Brunner (world number 7) defeated newly formed duo Kira Walkenhurst/Luisa Lippmann 21:19, 21:9. The first round was tight, but the Swiss made no more mistakes at the crucial moment. In the second round it was clearly in favor of Hüberli/Brunner.
Brunner took the win by shooting Walkenhorst into the block, and the ball ended up out of bounds. Walkenhurst, who could call herself Olympic Champion (2016), World Champion (2017) and European Champion (2015, 2016), competed with Lippmann with a player who had no previous claycourt experience. But she is considered Germany’s best female futsal player – the Huberley / Brunner duo was difficult to rate. Especially since they did not know in advance who the block player would be. Spanish duo Soria/Gonzalez wait on Wednesday (10:30 a.m.).
Verge Debre / Bentelli turn in the match
Anouk-Verger Debre and Mina Bentelli had to shiver on their debut. They gave up a tough starting set against Ukrainian twin sisters Inna and Irina Makhno (world number 77) with 23:25. Until the middle of the second round, the Swiss were always at the back, before losing their lead after 9:9 and winning the set 21:13. The picture was the same in the decisive third round: after 7:7, the Swiss team moved away with five consecutive points and won 23:25, 21:13, 15:11. In the next game, the rival duo is called Schützenhöfer / Plesiutschnig.
Böbner / Vergé-Dépré effortlessly
Esmée Böbner and Zoé Vergé-Dépré also won their first team match against the Ukrainians – as one would expect, one might say. The Swiss duo, ranked 23 in the world, defeated Valentina Davydova and Diana Lunina. With a block, Böbner finally took a 21:14, 21:11 victory against the perfect 55th in the world.
The Ukrainians could keep up only very early: in the first half they led 4: 3 for the first and last time in the match. After an average race with 8 points in a row, the score was 11:4 for the Swiss shortly thereafter. It was precisely with this feature that Böbner / Vergé-Dépré brought home the first collection. In the second round, the Swiss made the difference with a score of 13:10 with 5 points inside the wing. Next, the second-best Swiss duo on paper in this European Championship will meet Katja Stam/Raisa Schön on Wednesday.
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