It was a good afternoon to be a German fan inside the packed Red Bull Beach as three of the home nation’s teams secured vital victories in front of a packed Red Bull Beach Arena crowd.
First celebrating were Sarah Schneider and Leonie Körtzinger, the number 47 seeds, who battled through a three-set epic to beat Poland’s Katarzyna Kociolek and Kinga Wojtasik.
The pair, playing in their first World Championships, won a tense first set 23-21 but back came the Poles, taking the second 21-16. However, it was the home team that were jumping for joy on the Center Court sand, winning a gripping tie-break 15-11 to ensure they still have a chance of qualifying.
And the celebrations on the Red Bull Beach Arena kept coming as top seeds Sandra Ittlinger and Chantal Laboureur edged a tight two-setter against Canadian twin sisters Nicole and Megan McNamara.
The Germans were made to work hard for their 22-20, 25-23 match which captivated the crowd for 53 minutes on the main court. The result secured Laboureur/Ittlinger a place in the elimination round with their final match against Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Orsi Toth on Monday deciding who tops Pool A.
Finally, Nils Ehlers and Lars Flüggen began their tournament with an excellent win over in-form Chilean cousins Marco and Esteban Grimalt. The Europeans were always in control against their South American opponents who have enjoyed a good season on the World Tour in 2019.
However in both sets the Germans started strongly and that gave them a solid platform to go on and win 21-17, 21-14.
Back in the women’s side, it was a defeat for Kim Behrens and Cinja Tillmann in their world champs opener as the German pair went down in straight sets to Anouk Vergé-Dépré and Joana Heidrich of Switzerland on the Red Bull Beach Arena in Pool C. In the same pool, Canadians Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson got their tournament off to a winning start by defeating Uruguay’s Camila Bausero and Maria Rotti 21-8, 21-7.
