Canadian duo Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes opened their competition with a straight-sets victory at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Finals in Sardinia, Italy on Wednesday.
After falling behind in the second set, Pavan and Humaba-Paredes rallied to close out the match with a 25-23 win.
The reigning world champions fell short of their medal aspirations in Tokyo after getting upset in the quarter-finals by Australia’s Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar in three sets.
WATCH | Pavan, Humana-Paredes defeat Netherlands’ duo in opener of beach volleyball world tour finals:
Pavan, of Kitchener, Ont., and Humana-Paredes, of Toronto, next play at the World Tour Finals at 4:30 p.m. ET against the top-ranked Brazilian team of Agatha and Duda.
After a day off on Thursday, the two will play Switzerland’s Anouk Verge-Depre and Joanna Heidrich on Friday at 6 a.m. ET, followed by a 2 p.m. ET match against Americans Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil.
The event is set to run from Wednesday to Sunday, with the quarter-finals, semifinals and medal matches taking place on Saturday and Sunday.
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