All four German teams reached the round of the best 32 at the Beach Volleyball World Cup in Mexico. Early on Tuesday morning German time, the World Cup bronze medalists Svenja Müller/Cinja Tillmann won the decisive final group game against Taina Silva/Victoria Lopes from Brazil 2-1 (21:15, 22:24, 15:12). This secured them first place in the group.
Karla Borger and Sandra Ittlinger also won an important 2-0 (21:12, 21:7) against the Mexicans Katherine Albarran/Yamilet Vidaurrazaga, making them one of the four best third-placed teams in the group and also directly in the round of 32.
It was already clear that Laura Ludwig/Louisa Lippmann and Nils Ehlers/Clemens Wickler would advance. Rio Olympic champion Ludwig and her partner suffered their first defeat in the third group game for first place against the Brazilians Barbara Seixas/Carol Horta with a score of 0:2 (19:21, 16:21) and came second. The German champions Ehlers/Wickler, on the other hand, secured undefeated group victory with a 2-0 (22:20, 21:16) against the US duo Chaim Schalk/Tri Bourne.
Ehlers and Wickler are also one of only three men’s teams to survive the group phase without losing a set. “You are never perfect, but we won all the games with good results, we can be proud of that,” said Ehlers: “We stayed calm in this match and stuck to our solid game, which is what we had been working on recently.”
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This saved all German duos the detour through the lucky loser round, where the remaining participants in the knockout phase will now be played. This starts on Wednesday, the opponents of the German teams have already been determined. Ehlers/Wickler will meet the Austrians Julian Hörl/Alexander Horst, who finished the group phase with just one win. Müller/Tillmann face the strong Spaniards Liliana Fernández/Paula Soria, Ludwig/Lippmann play against the Brazilian duo Agatha/Rebecca. The most difficult task awaits Borger/Ittlinger. They will face the Australians Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy, who have only lost one set in the tournament so far.
