Who are these guys?
While the results of the FIVB World Tour Vienna Major were not a complete shock, very few would have expected to see Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sorum or Czechs Barbora Hermannova and Marketa Slukova on the top step of the podium in Vienna (AUT).
This was the final 5-star tournament of the 2018 season and all the big stars were on the sand. In the men’s tournament, Mol and Sorum had proved their class by winning the previous World Tour Major in Gstaad (SUI) in mid-July and rose that momentum through the Vienna tournament and have now won 12 straight World Tour matches.
They defeated first-time World Tour medalists Michal Bryl and Grzegorz Fijalek in the final, 21-12, 21-17 and combined with their European Championships win a couple of weeks ago, have now won three straight major tournaments. Are they the favorites now for the World Tour Final in Hamburg (GER) starting on 14 August?
In the women’s tournament, Hermannova and Slukova similarly won the 4-star Ostrava (CZE) Open in June before an adoring home crowd and had risen to no. 6 in the world rankings. But in Vienna, they had to overcome three-time World Tour winners Barbara Seixas and Fernanda Alves of Brazil.
The Czechs lost the first set badly, 21-10, but roared back to win with 21-16 and 15-12 victories in the final two sets. “It’s definitely the biggest victory of our careers,” said Slukova, who had an injured shoulder throughout the tournament. “It’s so amazing to play in front of such a country and bring the gold medal home, especially after how the game started. We started so badly.
“We couldn’t find each other in setting and really didn’t have counter attacks. We thought we were really embarrassing ourselves and this definitely wasn’t the way we wanted to end the tournament. We had our problems but we really stuck together and that’s what I’m most proud of.”
There were also surprises in the bronze medal matches. Two weeks after winning the European Championships as a 15th seed, Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink (NED) are suddenly World Tour Final contenders after taking third in Vienna and Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan won their first World Tour medals by beating fifth-seeded Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen (NED). Summaries:
FIVB World Tour Major
Vienna (AUT) ~ 31 July-05 August 2018.
(Full results here)
Men: 1. Anders Mol/Christian Sorum (NOR) 3; 2. Michal Bryl/Grzegorz Fijalek (POL) 14; 3. Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan (QAT) 24; 4. Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (NED) 5. Semis: Mol/Sorum d. Brouwer/ Meeuwsen, 2-0; Bryl/Fijalek d. Cherif/Ahmed Tijan, 2-0. Third: Cherif/Ahmed Tijan d. Brouwer/Meeuwsen, 2-1. Final: Mol/Sorum d. Bryl/Fijalek, 2-0 (21-12, 21-17).
Women: 1. Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova (CZE); 2. Barbara Seixas/Fernanda Alves (BRA); 3. Sanne Keizer/Madelein Meppelink (NED); 4. Maria Antonelli/Carol Salgado (BRA). Semis: Hermannova/Slukova d. Maria Antonelli/Carol, 2-0; Barbara/Fernanda d. Keizer/Meppelink, 2-0. Third: Keizer/Meppelink d. Maria Antonelli/Carol, 2-0. Final: Hermannova/Slukova d. Barbara/Fernanda, 2-1 (10-21, 21-16, 15-12).
