LONDON (AP) — The top-seeded Brazilian team of Emanuel and Alison escaped a set point in the third to beat Poland 21-17, 16-21, 17-15 on Monday night and advance to the semifinals of the Olympic beach volleyball tournament.
The reigning world champions trailed Mariusz Prudel and Grzegorz Fijalek 14-13 in the third. The Brazilians had one match point of their own before Alison spiked it to the sand, then ran off the court celebrating before returning to give his partner a bear hug and a kiss on the cheek.
In other men’s quarterfinals, Americans Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal were scheduled to meet Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins of Latvia.
Germany’s Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann were to play Brazil’s Ricardo and Pedro, and Reinder Nummerdor and Rich Schuil of the Netherlands were scheduled to meet Italy’s Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo.
Two American teams have already advanced to the semifinals in the women’s bracket.
