A fourth place which is effectively worth the pass to the Olympics in Paris 2024: it is the prestigious result obtained by Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi in the second Elite16 of the Beach Pro Tour 2024 which was played in Tepic in Mexico.
The two Italians, in fact, after finishing Pool B in the lead by beating the reigning world champions from the United States, Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes (2-1: 13-21, 21-16, 15-13), the Canadian couple Sarah Pavan and Molly McBain (2-1: 21-18, 15-21, 15-12) and the Spanish Liliana Fernández – Paula Soria (2-0: 24-22, 21-19) they found direct access to the quarter-finals.
On Saturday evening Marta and Valentina in the match valid for the quarter-finals met the German couple formed by Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann who won with a peremptory 2-0 (21-10, 21-16). So on Sunday, when it was 4am in Italy, the two Italian champions took to the Mexican sand of Tepic again to face the Dutch, Marta and Valentina’s bête noire, Katja Stam-Raïsa Schoon in the semi-final.
Unfortunately, even in the Tepic tournament the orange team proved to be stronger than the two blue teams and won 2-0 (23-21, 21-10). So on Sunday evening Marta and Valentina took to the field to compete for the bronze medal with the Brazilian couple Bárbara Seixas-Carol Salgado.
The Brazilian pair immediately started strong and, at the start of the set, went 5-1 and 9-5. As the actions progress, Marta and Valentina find the right rhythm and make the score 11-11. Then it’s a point to point with Carol-Barbara who find the right opportunity to win the set at 22-20.
The second set was balanced and proceeded with a long point by point until 6-6. Then break for the blue for 8-6 and counter-break for the Cariocas who reach 10-14. Marta and Valentina do not separate, they grab their opponents and then take the lead to 20-19 and then take the set 23-21.
Very tight tie-break characterized by breaks and counter-breaks and a partial that leads to the advantages. And after a very long fight, Carol and Barbara found the two points of victory by winning 25-23. For Marta and Valentina the satisfaction of a tournament played well.
