2016-06-29 19:50:00 CET
How does it feel to knock out your hero?
Just ask the Austrians after they complete their qualification quest
Tobias Winter and Lorenz Petutschnig celebrate their victory. Photocredit: Sebastian Marko.
There were scenes of jubilation on Center Court as Austrian pair Tobias Winter and Lorenz Petutschnig booked their place in the main draw after beating one of their heroes in Poreč Major qualification.
The young Austrians slayed an American duo which included 36-year-old Sean Rosenthal – one of beach volleyball’s most decorated players – to make the main draw in the Swatch Major Series for the very first time.
Rosenthal and partner Jeremy Casebeer took the first set but Winter and Petutschnig had other ideas and wowed their fans on Center Court with some stunning shots to earn their passage through to the pool play.
“Sean is a legend of our sport and we’ve both watched him so many times,” Lorenz told us. “We’re big fans of his and now we’re playing against him and beating his is a great feeling.”
There wasn’t such good news for the other Austrian side left in qualification as Ermacora/Pristauz-Telsnigg were beaten by Norway’s Hordvik/Usken.
They were the second of tour Norwegian teams to make it through to the main draw following Sørum/Eithun’s victory earlier in the day of Czech duo Kufa/Lenc.
The two Brazilian teams in qualification were also the top two seeds, and Guto/Saymon and Ricardo/Andre both battled their way through to join Alison/Bruno and Solberg/Evandro in the main draw with gritty 2-1 victories. That means four teams from the house of beach volleyball will now contest pool play on Thursday.
Stay tuned for news of the men’s main draw later tonight to see who’ll be placed with who in the pool play!
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