Agatha & Duda Regain Winning Ways at Fort Lauderdale Major

After being upset here Wednesday during opening Main Draw play in the US$600,000 Fort Lauderdale Major, Brazilians Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda “Duda” Lisboa rebounded with a pair of wins over teams from Switzerland and Germany to advance to Friday’s second-round of elimination in the FIVB World Tour event.

With the international beach volleyball circuit returning to Fort Lauderdale Beach Park for the third time in four seasons, the 10th-seeded Agatha and Duda will play top-seeded Nicole Branagh and Lauren Fendrick of the United States with the winner advancing to the evening quarterfinals.

Silver medal winners at the 2017 Fort Lauderdale Major and facing elimination Thursday, Agatha and Duda opened play in the morning by posting a 2-0 (21-15, 21-18) win in 34 minutes over seventh-seeded Joana Heidrich/Anouk Verge-Depre of Switzerland to advance as the third-place team from Pool G.

Victims of 23nd-seeded Kim Behrens/Sandra Ittlinger of Germany in their only match Wednesday, Agatha and Duda gained revenge with the European country by ousting third-seeded Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude 2-0 (21-12, 21-14) in 32 minutes. Agatha and Duda are now 3-0 against Laboureur/Sude with their first win over the Germans being in the semifinals at the 2017 Fort Lauderdale Major.

“We studied a lot about this team, and we know how dangerous this team is,” said Agatha about their third FIVB meeting with Laboureur and Sude. “The girls are very fast so it’s difficult to defend. So we studied how we can serve the best against them We didn’t have much of an offseason this year. Our Brazilian Tour went until November, and then in January was the first FIVB event. We need to have a good mind this year, to rest and to stay healthy.”

Author: FIVB

Leave a Reply Cancel reply