Russia’s Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Igor Velichko of Russia reached the Xiamen Open final ©FIVB

Russia’s Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Igor Velichko defeated top seeds Piotr Kantor and Batorsz Losiak of Poland 2-1 - 22-20, 21-17 – to reach the Xiamen Open men’s final in the latest leg of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Beach World Tour.

In only their third tournament together, Stoyanovskiy and Velichko reached their second final in a row after taking silver in Doha in March.

Their win against Poland at the Guanyinshan Golden Beach venue put them in the gold medal match against fellow Russians Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Nikita Liamin.

"It’s an amazing feeling, we made it again, the second final in a row, second tournament, it’s unbelievable for us," said Stoyanovskiy.

"It was a really hard match for us because Poland played very well and they are one of the strongest teams in the World Tour and they are the number one seed here and are a really good team.”

The two teams had previously met in Doha where the Russians had won in pool play.

"It’s really wonderful that there are two teams from Russia in the final," Stoyanovskiy added.

Agatha Bednarczuk of Brazil, left, has reached the semi-finals of the FIVB Beach World Tour Xiamen Open with partner Eduarda Santos Lisboa after beating China's Wang Fan and Xia Xinyi ©FIVB
Agatha Bednarczuk of Brazil, left, has reached the semi-finals of the FIVB Beach World Tour Xiamen Open with partner Eduarda Santos Lisboa after beating China's Wang Fan and Xia Xinyi ©FIVB

Kantor and Losiak will meet Brazil’s Olympic champions Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt, who were beaten 2-1 – 21-12, 11-21, 15-10 – by Krasilnikov and Liamin in the bronze medal match. 

Earlier, the Brazilian pair had earned revenge for their earlier defeat by Norway’s Anders Berntsen Mol and Christian Sandlie Sørum, this time winning 2-0 – 21-13, 21-19.

In the big clash of the morning’s matches, Alexander Horst and Clemens Doppler from Austria had defeated defending champions Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of The Netherlands 2-0 - 23-21, 21-19.

But the Austrian pair were then beaten 21-19, 24-22 in the third round by Krasilnikov and Liamin.

Women’s top seeds Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes, Canada’s recently crowned Commonwealth Games champions, made their way through to the semi-final, first winning against Germany’s Victoria Bieneck and Isabel Schneider and then in a challenging match against  Sara Hughes and Summer Ross of the United States, whom they defeated 2-1 - 20-22, 21-19, 16-14.

In their first tournament together, Kelly Claes and Brittany Hochevar also earned a semi-final spot by defeating Joy Stubbe and Marleen Ramond-van Iersel from The Netherlands 2-0  -21-15, 21-16.

Australia’s Mariafe Del Solar Artacho and Taliqua Clancy, the silvere medallists at Gold Coast 2018, secured their semi-final place with victory over Germany’s Chantal Laboureur and Julia Sude, 2-0 - 21-16, 21-10.

Brazil’s Eduarda Santos Lisboa and Agatha Bednarczuk were the fourth semi-finalists after beating local favourites Wang Fan and Xia Xinyi 2-0 - 21-18, 22-20 and then overcoming April Ross and Alexandra Klineman of the US 2-1 -21-18, 27-29, 15-13.