The home tournament in Gstaad ends in the round of 16 for Anouk Vergé-Dépré (left) and Joana Mäder
Image: Keystone
Esmée Böbner sets up the ball for Zoé Vergé-Dépré
Image: Keystone
The home tournament in Gstaad ends in the round of 16 for Anouk Vergé-Dépré (left) and Joana Mäder
Image: Keystone
Esmée Böbner sets up the ball for Zoé Vergé-Dépré
Image: Keystone
The final day of the beach volleyball home tournament in Gstaad takes place without Swiss participation. On Saturday, the two women's teams fall by the wayside.
Esmée Böbner/Zoé Vergé-Dépré, the Swiss duo selected for the Olympic Games in Paris, were eliminated in the quarter-finals against the Brazilians Agatha/Rebecca 17:21, 19:21. The 41-year-old South American Agatha Bednarczuk, the 2015 world champion, and her 31-year-old partner had a very strong day. And then they also had the necessary luck: they got their first match point after the TV pictures revealed a wrong decision by the linesman.
The Swiss women, who had impressed with three wins in qualifying, were nevertheless able to prove in the Bernese Oberland that they are among the best in the world. Fifth place at an Elite 16 tournament, the highest level on the tour, is proof of this. Böbner/Vergé-Dépré played Agatha/Rebecca for the fourth time this season. The score in the head-to-head matches is now 2:2.
For Anouk Vergé-Dépré/Joana Mäder, the tournament ended in the round of 16. The Tokyo Olympic bronze medallists were beaten 22-24, 21-17, 12-15 by top seeds Katja Stam/Raïsa Schoon from the Netherlands after a tough battle.
The defeat against the world number 6 was anything but inevitable. Vergé-Dépré/Mäder missed a set point at 20:19 in the first set. In the second, after trailing 7:11, they made a strong comeback to level the set. In the tie-break, the Swiss finally went 9:7 ahead, but seven of the next nine points went to Stam/Schoon. Vergé-Dépré/Mäder's first tournament after missing out on Olympic qualification ended in disappointment.
The two Swiss men's duos failed to reach the knockout phase.
SDA
