Double gold as Aussies dominate Nuvali Open
Australia made a clean sweep of both gold medals up for grabs in the AVC Beach Tour opening Nuvali Open at the Nuvali Sand Courts in Philippines on Saturday. Paul Burnett and Luke Ryan topped the men’s podium while Stefie Fejes won for the second straight year, this time with new partner Jasmine Fleming.
In the Saturday’s women’s final, Australia’s top seeds Fejes and Fleming narrowly edged past New Zealand’s third seeds Shaunna Polley and Olivia MacDonald 2-1 (21-13, 13-21, 17-15) in exhausting 49 minutes to reign supreme in the women’s event.
The Saturday morning semi-finals earlier saw Fejes and Fleming struggle hard to beat Japan’s sixth seeds Asami Shiba and Reika Murakami in a hard-fought two-setter while Kiwis Polley and MacDonald pulled off a sensational 2-0 victory against Australia’s second seeds Lizzie Alchin and Georgia Johnson.
Alchin and Johnson turned things around in the third-place playoff match against Shiba and Reika to overcome the Japanese opponents in epic tie-breaker for the bronze medal.
In the men’s event, three Australian pairings stormed their ways to the semi-finals. Paul Burnett and Luke Ryan, who claimed the men’s title at the recent Australian Beach Volleyball Tour Finals in Coolangatta, spent only 27 minutes in stunning top seeds and 2024 Asian champions D’Artagnan Potts and Jack Pearse 2-0 in the first semi-final clash.
The other semifinal encounter saw Australia’s 14th seeds Ben Hood and Oliver Merritt stop the remarkable unbeaten run of 15th seeds Amirali GhalehNovi and Bahman Salemiinjehboroun, outplaying the Iranian duo 2-0.
In the all-Australian showdown, Burnett and Ryan continued their incredible form, demolishing Hood and Merritt in straight sets to not only capture the men’s title without dropping a set but also give Australia double gold in the second edition of the AVC Beach Tour Nuvali Open.
Potts and Pearse also gave Australia a men’s podium sweep on Saturday. The top seeds put it past their Iranian opponents 20-18 in the third and deciding set of the bronze medal match.
