Krattiger and Dillier Produce Stunning Shutout of Boermans and De Groot at World Championships

Switzerland’s Marco Krattiger and Leo Dillier produced the most shocking result of the sixteenthfinals at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship in Adelaide, knocking out second-seeded Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot of the Netherlands. The stunning upset headlines a dramatic day that saw the full lineup for Thursday’s eighthfinals take shape.

Swiss Shockwave in Adelaide

Krattiger and Dillier, seeded 24th in the 48-team draw, hammered out a stunning 2-0 (21-14, 21-19) shutout of one of the main medal candidates in Australia. The Swiss dominated most of the first set to take it by a wide margin. They stayed in control through most of the second set, and although the Dutch caught up in the money time, Krattiger and Dillier converted their first match point to advance to the eighthfinals.

Krattiger led the way with four kill blocks and two aces towards a match-high 22 points. Dillier added another 14, also delivering two aces towards the win.

Mol and Sørum Battle Through

The world’s number one team, top-seeded Anders Mol and Christian Sørum, also had to battle through three sets to advance. They came back from a set down against 35th-seeded Samuel Schachter and Jonathan Pickett to take a 2-1 (18-21, 21-14, 15-11) win. Mol raised six kill blocks and fired four aces towards a match-high 22 points.

Olympic Semifinal Remake on Tap

In the most anticipated eighthfinal match-up, Norway’s Mol and Sørum will face Germany’s Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler in a remake of last year’s Olympic semifinal at Paris 2024. The Germans achieved a three-set victory in that encounter and went on to claim Olympic silver, while the defending Tokyo 2020 Olympic champions settled for bronze.

Ehlers and Wickler also shut out Mol and Sørum in their most recent encounter at the Gstaad Elite16 in July.

Other Eighthfinal Matchups

The Swiss pair will face fourth-seeded Brazilians Evandro Oliveira and Arthur Mariano Lanci, who survived a nail-biting tie-breaker against New Zealand’s Bradley Fuller and Ben O’Dea, winning 2-1 (21-15, 17-21, 25-23) after 57 minutes.

In other action, Germans Lukas Pfretzschner and Sven Winter delivered a 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) upset of home favorites Mark Nicolaidis and Izac Carracher. They will face Norwegians Hendrik Mol and Mathias Berntsen in the eighthfinals.

Brazil’s Andre Stein and Renato Lima also advanced with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-14) shutout of Austria’s Timo Hammarberg and Tim Berger.

Photo Credit: volleyballworld.com