Olympics-Beach Volleyball-Brazil do double over Argentina, Swiss women on top

The Brazilian men's and women's beach volleyball teams earned satisfying wins in their opening pool encounters at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, beating their Argentine rivals in straight sets at Shiokaze Park. Brazil's Olympic debutant Alvaro Filho and 2016 gold medallist Alison Cerutti beat the Argentine duo of Nicolas Capogrosso and Julian Azaad 21-16 21-17 to kick things off.

The Brazilian men's and women's beach volleyball teams earned satisfying wins in their opening pool encounters at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, beating their Argentine rivals in straight sets at Shiokaze Park.

Brazil's Olympic debutant Alvaro Filho and 2016 gold medallist Alison Cerutti beat the Argentine duo of Nicolas Capogrosso and Julian Azaad 21-16 21-17 to kick things off. Cerutti, who also won silver in 2012, scored the bulk of the attacking points and also won five points at the net with blocks while his teammate Filho was able to successfully dig the ball out five times.

"I'm still shaking. I was very anxious before the match," Filho said. "The weather is also really hot and we had to stay focused all the time during the match. But the adrenaline I feel now, after the match, is the same that I felt when my son was born. So it's very special and I'm enjoying it a lot."

Rio silver medallist Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda Santos of Brazil were too much for Ana Gallay and Fernanda Pereyra, beating the Argentine pair 21-19 21-11 in Pool C. Germany's Laura Ludwig, who won gold in Rio and returned to the sport in 2019 following a maternity break, has teamed up with Margareta Kozuch in Tokyo but they lost their Pool F match to Switzerland despite winning the opening set.

Switzerland's Nina Betschart made an impressive 14 successful digs in the match to keep the ball in play. The second Swiss women's team of Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Heidrich also triumphed over Germany's Julia Sude and Karla Borger despite a second set fightback, winning 21-8 21-23 15-6.

The first match of the day was awarded to Japan's women by default as their Czech opponents had to withdraw due to a COVID-19 infection. In Pool A, 2019 world champion Canadian duo Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes also earned a straight-sets victory over the Netherlands' Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon.

The Russian Olympic Committee's Ilya Leshukov and Konstantin Semenov edged Spain 21-19 22-20 in their men's Pool A match.

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