I didn’t follow closely all the odds for the Beijing Grand Slam winner, but I am sure there were quite few who expected European couples from the Netherlands and Italy to appear in the Sunday final. Nummerdor-Schuil and Nicolai-Lupo played already against each other earlier this week as during the Pool L preliminary round game the Dutchmen won in straight sets to secure their second phase participation.
Following a flawless series of victories, Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil eliminated three couples from South America to reach the gold medal battle – Ricardo-Cunha (Brazil), Fuerbringer-Lucena (USA) and Gibb-Rosenthal (USA).
After the defeat in the group phase, Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo had the tough task to enter the lucky loser round (Round 1) where the Olympic champions Dalhausser-Rogers were already waiting. The young Italians did not tremble and made the upset of the Grand Slam by taking a well-deserved 2-0 win (21-16, 23-21).
The 4th-place finish of Nicolai-Lupo in Myslowice was thought by many to be a sporadic moment and thus they did not stand too many chances based also on the fact that Italy has never really been dominant on the beach. Another straight set win (21-16, 21-13) against the World Champions Emanuel-Alison in the semifinals however marked the eruption of the new Italian beach stars.
Unfortunately, Nicolai-Lupo could not finish an otherwise perfect week with a great performance. For the second time it was the 3rd-seeded Dutchmen Nummerdor-Schuil to seal the victory and take full advantage of Paolo Nicolai’s stomach injury. No real resistance from the Italians who missed the gold by 11-16 and 16-21.
“The Italian was a little bit injured, we saw that, but we were also nervous, because we’d never won a Grand Slam and we wanted to play well,” Richard Schuil stated. “So, we are really happy to win. In the whole tournament we played very well. The final wasn’t the best, but good enough.”
In terms of history – first title for the Netherlands in a World Tour Grand Slam and first ever Grand Slam silver for “Squarda Azzura”.
“In one tournament we beat Dalhausser-Rogers and Emanuel-Alison, maybe the best teams in the world,” said Paolo Nicolai. “Emanuel, Rogers, Dalhausser are like my heroes. I couldn’t imagine that one day I could beat these players. It’s a fantastic moment for us. When you play a team like Emanuel-Alison, you just have to play 100 perfect and maybe we did that today.”
In the bronze medal encounter it was finally a podium result for the Swatch-FIVB World Tour 2011 winners Emanuel-Alison. The battle between Brazilians and Americans everyone expected did not happen in the closing game of the Grand Slam, but a bit before, signing the supremacy of the two European teams this week. Emanuel-Alison came out victorious and beat Gibb-Rosenthal – 21-13 and 21-16.
Next week the Tour takes a rest and gives some recovery hopes for the athletes. Some teams we already discussed previously would benefit from a week-long rest, others will have to practice harder to make some major breakthrough. Latest news are optimistic as it turns out all the powerhouses registered for the Patria Direct Open in Prague (Czech Republic). The countdown to London is on, every game and ranking point matter, so follow us for more beach actions next week.
Pictures: FIVB
